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I'll I LP'S 

WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 



TLLTE VII 



THE AMERICAN CAPITAL, 



AND THB 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA; 

WITH MANY NOTI< 
HISTORICAL. TOPOGRAPHICAL, AND SCIENTIFIC 



OF GOVERNMENT, 



Edited by WILLIAM D. HALEY 



NEW YORK: 
RTJT3T3 »Sc CARLETOX. 

PHILADELPHIA: J. B. Ln-PiNcorr A Co. BOSTON: Csosm, Nkh,l*. Lei A C 
WASHINGTON: Pmilp A SofcOMOXt. 



Ti" 



Entered according to Act of Congress In the year 1961, by 

JAMES PHILP, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Southern District of New York. 



BJkJULH * godwix, printers. 

rmurra«-aocn **ia*x, 

NRW YORK. 







CONTENTS. 



Page 

List of Illustrations, 7 

Editor's Preface, 8 

CHAPTER I. 

GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 

Topography. Captain Jolin Smith's Account of Chesapeake 
Bay. Geology. Hydrography. Zoology. Botany. 
Climatology. Health. Progress of Population, . 13-42 

CHAPTER II. 

HISTORY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 

District of Columbia. City of Washington. British Capture 

of Washington, , 43-69 

CHAPTER III. 

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 

The Executive Mansion and the President. Department of 
State. Treasury Department. Department of War. 
Navy Department. Patent Office and Department of 
the Interior, Post Office Department, . . 70-120 



IV I ONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 

The Capitol. Congress, 121-150. 

CHAPTER V. 

JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT. 

Supreme Court. Attorney-General's Office. Court of 

Claims, 151-153 

CHAPTER VI. 

GOVERNMENTAL AND NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 

Washington Navy Yard. United States Coast Survey. Na- 
tional Observatory. The Washington National Monu- 
ment. Smithsonian Institution. Washington Armory. 
United States Arsenal. Penitentiary of the District of 
Columbia. Military Asylum. Columbian Institution 
for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind. Government Hospital 
for the Insane. American Colonization Society. United 
States Agricultural Society. National Printing Office. 
Washington Art Association. The Equestrian Statue of 
Jackson. The Equestrian Statue of Washington. Wash- 
ington Aqueduct, 154-195 

CHAPTER VIL 

ETIQUETTE. 

The Code, . 196-202 



CONTENTS. V 

CHAPTER VIII. 

CITY OF WASHINGTON. 

The City Hall. "Washington Infirmary. County Jail. Cor- 
poration Aims-House. Washington Hotels. Churches. 
Colleges. Washington Journals. Libraries and Art- 
Collections. Fraternities and Benevolent Societies. 
Markets. Cemeteries. Police. Traveling Facilities, 203-220 

CHAPTER IX. 

GEORGETOWN. 

Georgetown College. The Convent of the Visitation. The 

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Oak-Hill Cemetery, 221-225 

CHAPTER X. 

PLACES OF INTEREST NEAR THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 

Bladensburgh. Little Falls. Great Falls. Alexandria. 

Fort Washington. Mount Vernon, . . . 226-234 
1* 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



♦ ♦»« 



Map, ..... Frontispiece. 



y 



Page 

Geological Map, ...... 16 

South and West Fronts of the Treasury, . 88 
Patent Office, . . . . . 103 

Post Office, ....... 116 

Capitol of the United States, . . . 121 
Capital of a Column in the Capitol, . .122 
Ground Plan of the Capitol, . . . 128 

Apex of the Dome of the Capitol, . . .130 
North-eastern Pediment of the Capitol, . 132 
Sectional View of the Dome of the Capitol, 134 
Washington Navy Yard, . . . . 154 

Smithsonian Institution, . . . . .166 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. 



There are two exigencies in authorship equally per- 
plexing : one is, the absence of a theme when composition 
is necessary ; the other, the presence of a theme which 
must be condensed within certain limits. Comparatively 
exhaustive as, it is hoped, the following pages will be 
found, the things of which they treat require much more 
extensive elaboration. Nowhere, probably, can there be 
found so small a territory embracing as many objects of 
interest as are contained in the District of Columbia ; 
and yet the citizens of the United States have but a faint 
conception of the value of the seat of government, and 
foreign nations still cling to the belief that the distances 
between the public buildings exceed their magnificence. 

The critics must decide the literary merits of this 
work; but we respectfully submit that, in accuracy of state- 
ment, it is to be relied upon ; because none but acknowl- 
edged literary and scientific authorities have been con- 
sulted, and those have been carefully compared. 

Great pains have been bestowed upon the classifica- 



X PREFACE. 

tion of topics ; and it is believed that the volume will be 
equally acceptable to the residents in the District, and to 
those who feel that the history of a nation's political Cap- 
ital is the best register of national progress. 

The editor trusts that his work may vindicate its right 
to existence, and prove a sufficient record of the love and 
pains of its parentage ; and he acknowledges his indebted- 
ness to many gentlemen for assistance, especially to C. W. 
Hinman, Esq., Baron de Osten Sacken, Professors Henry, 
Baird, Ford, Gill, Ulke, and Jillson, and Doctors 
Gale, Force, and Foreman. It is due to T. U. Walter, 
Esq., to mention that the engraving of the capital of a 
column, on page 122, was designed by that gentleman. 



PHILP'S 



WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 



CHAPTER I 

GEOGRAPHY AXD NATURAL HISTORY. 



The District of Columbia, as originally ceded to the 
Federal Government, by the States of Virginia and Mary- 
land, contained ten miles square, or one hundred square 
miles ; but when, in 1846, Alexandria was retroceded to 
Virginia, the area of the District was reduced to about 
sixty square miles. The Capitol lies in 38° 52' 20" north 
latitude, and 77° 0' 15" west longitude from Greenwich. 
The Observatory, from which the American meridian is 
computed, lies in 38° 53' 39".25 north latitude, and 77° 
2' 48" (5 hours, 8 minutes, 11.2 seconds) west longitude. 

The District of Columbia is bounded by the State of 
Maryland on the east, north, and west, and by the Poto- 
mac river and Virginia on the south. The distances from 
the seat of government, of some of the principal cities in 
the Union, are as follows : — 



L 5 

Miles 

Albany 376 

Baltimore 39 

Boston 432 

Charleston 544 

Chicago 763 

Cincinnati 497 

Detroit 526 

2 



Miles 

Milwaukee 700 

Mobile 1,000 

New Orleans 1,200 

New York 226 

Philadelphia 136 

Richmond 120 

St. Louis 850 



1-i WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITIl's DESCRIPTION OF 
CHESAPEAKE BAY. 

" There is but one entrance by sea into this country, 
and that is at the mouth of a very goodly bay, eighteen 
or twenty miles broad. The cape on the south is called 
Cape Henry, in honor of our most noble Prince. * * * 
The north cape is called Gape Charles, in honor of the 
worthy Duke of York. The island before it, Smith's 
Island, by the name of the discoverer. * * * This 
bay lyeth north and south, in which the water floweth 
near 200 miles, and has a channel for 140 miles ; of depth, 
between six and fifteen fathoms, holding a breadth, for the 
most part, ten or fourteen miles. From the head of the 
bay to the northwest, the land is mountainous, and so in 
a manner from thence by a southwest line, so that the 
more southward, the farther off from the bay are those 
mountains ; from which fall certain brooks, which, after, 
come to fine navigable rivers. These run from the north- 
west into the southeast, and so into the west side of the 
bay, where the fall of every river is within twenty or fif- 
teen miles one of the other. The mountains arc of divers 
nature, for, at the head of the bay, the rocks are of a com- 
position like mill-stones ; some of marble, &c, and many 
pieces like bristol, we found as thrown down by the water 
from those mountains ; for in Winter they are covered 
with much snow, and, when it dissolves, the water falls 
with such violence that it causes great inundation in some- 
narrow valleys, which is scarce perceived, being once in 
the river. These waters wash from the rocks such glis- 
tening tinctures, that the ground in some places seemeth 



GEOGRArilY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 15 

as gilded, where both the rocks and the earth are so splen- 
did to behold that better inducement than ours might 
have been persuaded they contain more than probabilities. 
The vesture of the earth in most places doth manifestly 
prove the nature of the soil to be lusty and very rich. 
* * * In Summer, no place affordeth more plenty of 
sturgeon ; nor, in Winter, more abundance of fowl in the 
time of frost. I took once fifty-two sturgeon at a draught, 
at another sixty-eight. From the latter part of May till 
the end of June are taken few, and they are but a yard 
long. From then, till the middle of September, they are 
seldom less than two yards long ; and in four or five hours, 
with one net, there were ordinarily taken seven or eight. 
In the small rivers there are, all the year, plenty of small 
fish ; so that, with hooks, those that would take pains 
have sufficient. * * * Such great and well propor- 
tioned men are seldom seen, for they seem like giants to 
the English, yea, and to their neighbors, yet seemed of an 
honest and simple clisjoosition, and, with much ado, 
restrained from adoring us as God." 

GEOLOGY. 

Washington and Georgetown, and, indeed, the whole 
District, is underlaid with gneiss rock, the trend of which 
is nearly east and west. Throughout the City of Wash- 
ington and its suburbs the rock is covered to a greater 
or less depth with a tertiary formation of mineral matter, 
a considerable part of which is drift. The drift in some 
places consists of sandstone, limestone, jasper rock, 
quartz in boulders, pebbles, gravel, sand, clay, and loam. 
The mixture of loam and clay often abounds in a peculiar 



16 



WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 



state of aggregation, as if the clay and loam had been at 
first separate, and in masses of considerable size, and 

these ultimate- 
ly thrown into a 
confused mass. 
Such is the char- 
acter of the 
ground on En- 
glish Hill, on 
East Branch, 
just below the 
N avy Yard, 
about the brick 
kilns, between 
the Navy Yard 
and the arsenal. 
This character 
of the tertiary is well adapted to the manufacture of brick, 
and constitutes the basis of this manufacture in Washing- 
ton. The parts A, A, A, in the sketch, represent the gneiss 
rock, which was originally compact and, apparently, 
durable, and, as found in the neighborhood of Little Falls, 
some two miles above Georgetown, it is extensively quar- 
ried, and used in cellar and foundation walls, and other 
coarse work. It splits in two directions nearly at right 
angles to each other, which fits it for faced work with 
little labor. There is one peculiarity in this rock, how- 
ever, which renders it very uncertain as a durable stone. 
In certain locations it goes to decay rapidly, and disin- 
tegrates entirely in a few years. The rock, as it exists on 
the Virginia shore of the Potomac at Little Falls, has so 
broken down along the road side that a rod may be forced 




GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 17 

into it in some places for two feet from the surface, by 
the thrust of the arm. It is not so throughout, but only 
in certain localities. The cause of this peculiarity has not 
been investigated. It is proper to say, with regard to the 
underlying gneiss rock of the Potomac valley, that the 
rock does not appear at the surface at all the places marked 
A ; but, from the appearance and features of the surface, it 
is evidently there ; and it contributes to make and shape 
the contour of the surface. To the eastward and north- 
eastward, the valley of the East Branch constitutes a flat 
river bottom which receives the drain from the contigu- 
ous banks and lands. As we proceed along the east side 
of the Potomac, from the Capitol toward the north and 
northwest, the rock first makes its appearance parallel with 
the river (that is, the trend or line of the ridge of the 
rocks), in the vicinity of Pennsylvania Avenue where it 
crosses Rock Creek, which forms the dividing line be- 
tween Washington and Georgetown. 

Georgetown lies virtually at the head of tide-water, 
although the salt water does not ascend nearer than forty 
or fifty miles. Georgetown, therefore, is at the junction 
of the tertiary and primary rocks, and at the last fall of 
the river, before it plunges into positive tide-water. 
Georgetown may be said to rest on the primary gneiss, 
while Washington, though evidently resting on the same 
base, has its substratum so low, by the dip of the rock 
beneath the surface, that it may be properly, and is gen- 
erally, called tertiary, on account of the accumulation of 
clays, sands, and drift that have been piled upon it to the 
depth of many hundred feet, and which belong to the de- 
posits of the tertiary formation. No considerable borings 
in the way of artesian wells have been made, so as to 



18 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

decide at what depths the rock is reached from the sur- 
face in the different parts of the City of Washington. 
Suffice it to say, that the results obtained from such exca- 
vations as have been made by digging wells and cutting 
down hills show a great variety of mineral matter and 
of successions of deposit. 

We will speak first of the deposits as geological, then 
of the mineral matter, referring to the sources of it. At 
the lowest point penetrated, say 40 to 50 feet, we find 
successive beds of clays, sands, peaty earth, exogenous 
woods, in fragments, and silicified ; others not silicified, but 
in a lignitous state ; others containing pyrites of iron ; but 
these are confined to certain localities covered with water. 
In drier parts, where pyrites have been formed, the py- 
rites have undergone a decomposition, and the iron has 
become peroxydized, and shapen in various forms, accord- 
ing to that of the original nucleus. Thus we frequently 
obtain, in excavating, balls of iron, sand, or clay, like can- 
non-balls in form, but very light ; and on breaking them 
open we find within the remains of a pine-knot or other 
vegetable matter, around which the sulphate of alumina or 
of iron had originally formed, on the carbonaceous matter. 
Subsequently the sulphur of the compound has been re- 
moved, and left the iron predominating in the state of 
iron-sand cemented together. 

In 1856, or thereabout, in excavating I Street, at the 
junction of New Jersey Avenue, a log of silicified wood 
was removed at a depth of about 22 feet below the orig- 
inal surface. It was fully silicified throughout, with the 
strong marks of the grain of exogenous wood, of structure 
closely resembling the oak. It had crystals of quartz on 
its surface in great abundance. 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 19 

The various strata of these deposits, especially the 
lowest, hacTevidently been deposited in quiet waters, as at 
the bottoms of lagoons or ponds, or stagnant pools where 
were first sand or gravel, then clays, then peat matters 
charged with iron ; then, perhaps, some of these deposits 
repeated, and finally covered with ten or fifteen feet of 
drift. In all cases, the drift is on the top, and is very 
irregular in its character, generally consisting of masses 
or clumps of broken-up clay and loam, and pebbles, 
irregularly thrown together ; and these constitute the 
mass of earth as found in the excavations of the streets in 
Washington and its suburbs. Clay y however, is the pre- 
dominating earth throughout almost the whole District 
where the rock is covered with tertiary matters. The iron, 
being quite abundant and soluble in the carbonic acid 
of the air, is absorbed in the falling rain and surface 
water into the ground, and gives an iron deposit in nearly 
all water drawn from pumps and wells, conferring a de- 
gree of hardness which renders it objectionable for 
domestic uses. The debris of the broken-down gneiss 
rock gives a clear, micaceous loam, that does not abound 
in clay ; hence, the hills about the District are more like 
other primary lands. The distinctive character of the 
mineral matter found in the tertiary of the District has 
been the result, not of one uniform action, but of several 
successive and different actions, and with long intervals 
between, in which peat and other vegetable growth has 
accumulated these followed by sudden inundation of 
sands or gravels, &c, and these at last by vast accumula- 
tions of drift. In all cases, the deposit was from an older 
formation ; and we find amongst the drift limestone and 
sandstone, in pebbles of various sizes r in rolled masses. In 



20 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

the latter, the Delthyris arenosa, the peculiar fossil of the 
Oriskany sandstone, in the New York system, has been 
repeatedly identified. But from what locality this fossil 
has come, is unknown. A sandstone has been also found 
amongst this drift, perfectly resembling, in granular struc- 
ture, mineral matter, and shade of color, the Seneca sand- 
stone, of which the Smithsonian building is constructed. 
These resemblances, although sufficient to indicate proba- 
bility of source, are not sufficient to identify it. The 
mineral contents, beside those already named, are mostly 
siliceous, and such as would result from the debris of the 
gneiss of the substratum of the neighborhood 

HYDROGRAPHY. 

The principal water-course in the District of Columbia 
is the Potomac River, which, taking its rise in the Alle- 
ghany Mountains, receives the waters of several important 
streams, and, after a winding course of about four hundred 
miles, discharges into Chesapeake Bay. The principal 
tributaries of the Potomac are the Shenandoah, the Mono- 
cacy, the Conococheague, and the Anacostia, or eastern 
branch of the Potomac. 

The tide-water of the Potomac ceases at the Little 
Falls, a romantic succession of cascades, three miles above 
Georgetown. At the Washington Navy Yard the average 
tide rises three feet, the Spring tide three and a half feet, 
and the neap two and a half feet. The southerly winds 
have a marked effect upon the height and continuance of 
the tides, and periodical freshets swell the volume of 
water. The Potomac is navigable as far as Greenleaf s 
Point, for the largest class of vessels, as is evidenced by 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 21 

the approach of the British squadron when the Capital was 
captured, and by the fact that the American frigate Min- 
nesota, which was built at the Washington Navy Yard, 
was safely launched and successfully navigated down the 
river to Chesapeake Bay. Between the Navy Yard and 
Georgetown the channel has been filled up with denuda- 
tions from the upper valley of the Potomac, but it has 
been recently dredged by the corporations of Washington 
and Georgetown, at a heavy cost, and is now navigated by 
the large steamers which ply between Washington and 
New York. 

Within the District, the principal tributaries of the 
Potomac are Rock Creek, which separates Washington, 
on the west, from Georgetown, and the Anacostia, or east 
branch of the Potomac. The latter is a tidal stream, once 
capable of bearing large ships, and, until within a few years, 
navigated by a smaller class of vessels as far as Bladens- 
burgh. 

The scientific surveys of the Potomac have not yet 
been sufficiently accurate to .determine the velocity of the 
current created by the tidal wave, and other important 
data require the researches of the United States Coast 
Survey. From the Potomac the following marketable 
fishes are obtained, amongst which the shad and herring, 
because of their abundance, are, in an economical point of 
view, the most important : cat-fish, chub, eel, gar, herring, 
perch (white and yellow), pike, rock-fish, shad, sturgeon, 
suckers, sun-fish, and various other small species. Of 
sturgeon, specimens have been caught weighing over three 
hundred pounds. 

9* 



22 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Mammalia. — Whatever may have been the number of 
species of mammals inhabiting the District of Columbia 
in former times, the greater portion of them yet maintain 
a more or less permanent footing. Of those which for- 
merly roamed over its surface, the wild cat (Lynx rufus), 
the panther, the American wolf, the black bear, the beaver, 
and perhaps the elk ( Cervus Canadensis), are the only ones 
not found here at the present time, and it is even quite 
probable that the first-mentioned species still exists as a 
straggler. It is not probable that the buffalo ever lived 
in this region ; the deer is not rare in the old ten-mile 
square ; the otter even now is occasionally met with along 
the Potomac River, while foxes, rabbits, field mice, musk- 
rats, and other species are more abundant than ever. 

As far as accurate data are at our command, the fol- 
lowing appear to be the characteristic features of the 
mammalian fauna of the District : 

Of the Cheiroptera, or bats, about six species have 
hitherto been found. Of the Insectivora, there are three 
species of shrew mice, one of them a rare and little-known 
one, Sorex persotiatus. The common mole, Scalo])s aqua- 
tions, and the star-nosed mole, Condylura cristata, also 
occur, — the latter here finding its southern limit. 

Of the Carnivora, two species of fox, the red and the 
gray, are abundant. The ermine weasel, Putorius Nove- 
boracensis, although not rare, is not often taken. It is too 
far south here to assume its white, winter dress, — remaining 
brown the whole year. The mink (Putorius visoii) was 
also common until the rise in the value of its fur caused 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 33 

increased attention to its pursuit and capture. The otter 
has been already referred to as occasionally found in the 
Potomac. The skunk [Mephitis mephitica) is almost as 
much a nuisance as ever. The raccoon is frequently 
brought into market, as is also the opossum {Didelphys 
Virginiana), the single representative of the Marsupialia. 

Of the Sodentia, or gnawing animals, there are five 
kinds of squirrels, including the striped or ground squirrel 
and the flying squirrel. The most interesting species is 
the cat squirrel (Sciurus cinereus), a very large, heavy 
kind, occurring in different varieties of color, as red, gray, 
and black. It is confined to a limited area in Virginia, 
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. 
The woodchuck (Arctomys monax) belongs to the same 
family with the squirrel. 

Of other families of rodents, the jumping mouse, Jac- 
ulus Hudsonius, finds here nearly its southern limit. 
There are two long-tailed wild mice, ITasperpmys leucopus 
and Nu t tall i; and it is probable that the wood rat, Neotoma 
Floridana, was once found here.* Of the short-tailed 
field mice, one (Arvicola riparia) is the most abundant, 
the A. pinetorum, or pine mouse, being rare. The musk- 
rat, the common rabbit {Lepus sylvaticus), and the Vir- 
ginia deer, the latter the only ruminant, complete the 
catalogue. 

Three species of rats and one of mice have been intro- 
duced into the district from Europe, making the total 
number of species now found to be 37. Adding at least 
five species formerly abundant, but now exterminated, we 
have 42 in all. 

* It has very recently been sent to the Smithsonian Institution, 
from Loudon County, Yirginia. 



24 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

Ornithology. — The District of Columbia, by reason of 
its situation between the northern and southern portions 
of the country, seems designed by nature to be the locality 
where the species peculiar to each section may meet, as, for 
a similar reason, it has been selected to be the political 
centre of the United States. Its situation with regard to 
east and west may be said to be, in a measure, central — 
equally distant on the one hand from the ocean with 
which it is connected by the broad waters of Chesapeake 
Bay and the Potomac River, and on the other from the 
extensive ranges of mountains lying directly to the west- 
ward. If, in addition to the advantages resulting from 
this central location, we take into consideration those 
arising from the varied character of its surface, and that 
of the adjacent country, we cannot but be struck with its 
peculiar adaptation to the habits of many and various 
species. We may expect to find within its limits a large 
proportion of the birds composing the eastern fauna of 
our country. And this, indeed, is the case. With the 
exception of those hardy birds fitted by nature to endure 
the rigorous climate of the high latitudes, which seldom 
or never leave the hyperborean regions of the north, and 
those delicate species which are Summer visitants to our 
southern States from more tropical countries, there are 
few birds composing the eastern fauna which are not, at 
certain seasons, to be found within its borders. It forms 
the natural limit to the further progress of many more 
southern birds. 

The Summer red-bird (Pyranga cestiva), the cardi- 
nal grosbeak (Cardinalis Virginiamis) the celebrated 
Mocking-bird (Mimus polyglottus), Henslow's Bunting 
(Coturniculus Hensloivi), and some others, do not proceed 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. L ; 

much beyond it ; while it restricts the further southern 
migration of such birds as the white crowned sparrow 
{Zonotrichia leucophrys), the red cross bill (Curvirostra 
Americana), the pine finch ( Chrysomitris pinus), the lesser 
red poll linnet (Aegiothus linaria), &c. Although so lim- 
ited in area, the District of Columbia possesses, in woods ? 
meadows, marshes, and streams, a character of surface so 
varied that every class of birds can find the peculiar situ- 
ations they were designed to frequent. Its proximity to 
Chesapeake Bay, that great Winter resort for nearly all 
the ducks and other sea-fowl which retire to the far north 
to breed, and its situation along the Potomac River, one 
of its greatest tributaries, causes all the species to be found 
within its limits. But the incessant persecutions to which 
these birds are subjected have so materially decreased 
their numbers that they are every year becoming scarcer ; 
and the great body of those that are left, intimidated by 
incessant harassing, have removed to the numerous bays 
and inlets along the sinuosities of the Carolinian and other 
southern shores. Its position along the banks of the Po- 
tomac affords the sandy and muddy flats which the sand- 
pipers and the other smaller waders frequent ; while the 
extensive marshes and swampy tracts, where the wild oats 
(Zizania aquatica) grow in profusion, furnish suitable 
food to the thousands of rail, blackbirds, and reed-birds, 
which at certain seasons frequent those localities in im- 
mense numbers. Along the beautiful little stream known 
as " Rock Creek " are many shady, secluded hills, which, 
in the Spring and Autumn, abound with warblers, thrushes, 
and the smaller fly-catchers ; while over its waters are to 
be heard at all times, during the Summer, the loud rattling 
of the kingfisher, the " peet-weet " of the spotted land- 



20 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

piper, and the green heron is seen to fly slowly along 
beneath the overhanging branches. The thick cedars 
which border this creek are favorite resorts of the beauti- 
ful cardinal grosbeak or Virginia red-bird (Cardinalis 
Virginianus), so well known and justly celebrated both 
for the beauty of his plumage, and the richness and 
melody of his pleasing song. There are also extensive 
meadows to be found in every direction, which furnish a 
suitable abode for the lark (Sturnella magna), the black- 
throated bunting (Uuspiza Americana), and the various 
species of sparrows which are never found but in such 
situations. Though the number of birds resident through- 
out the year, and which breed here, is considerable, they 
are few in comparison with the numbers that pass through 
the District during their Spring and Autumn migrations, 
and those which are merely visitors during the Summer 
and Winter months — the former from a more southern 
climate, the latter from the northern regions. As an 
example of the number of birds which pass through on 
their way to the north to breed, we may cite the wood 
warblers, or Dendroicas. Of the twelve species which are 
found more or less abundantly in Spring and Autumn, but 
three, the common Summer yellow bird (D. cestiva), the 
pine-creeping (D. pinus), and the prairie warbler (D. 
discolor), breed here at all, and the last of these is rare. 
Again, of the six species of thrushes (Genus Turdus) 
which are abundant during their migrations, but two, the 
robin (T. migratorius), and the wood thrush (T. musteli- 
nus), remain during the Summer. The same might be said 
with reference to the smaller fly-catchers, the sandpipers, 
&c. Those birds which visit us in the Summer are for the 
most part the young of species which breed further south, 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 27 

and are generally observed in the months of July and 
August. Such is the case with regard to the small blue 
heron (Florida coerulea), the white ibis (Ibis alba), the 
great white egret (Herodias egretta), and some others. 
Among our rarer Winter visitants are the white crowned 
sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys), the great northern 
shrike or butcher-bird (Collyrio borealis), and in severe 
Winters the snowy owl (Nyctea nivea), and probably the 
snow bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis). The occurrence 
of a few other species in this vicinity must be looked 
upon as purely accidental and dependent on no fixed habit 
of the bird. Thus, during a violent easterly storm a few 
years ago, the Potomac was covered with multitudes of 
Mother Cary's chickens (Thalassidroma Leachii), which 
had been forced out of their usual course by the gale. 
The single instance of the occurrence of the ground dove 
( Chamaepelia passerina) in this vicinity must be regarded 
as equally accidental. Two hundred and thirty-six species 
of birds have been collected in the District. 



Herpetology. — Considering the small extent of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, there are several features of much 
interest in regard to its reptiles. The number of species 
is quite large, amounting, as will be seen, to over fifty, 
some of them being very rare. As in other departments 
of zoology, there is a mixture of the northern and south- 
ern faunas, although the prevailing character of the her- 
petology is, perhaps, southern rather than northern. 

Of the turtles, some of the species extend their range 
over wide areas of the country, while others are much 
more restricted. The well-known diamond-backed or salt- 
water terrapin (Emys terrapin) is common in the lower 



28 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

brackish waters of the Potomac River, and probably 
comes but rarely of its own accord into the District. 
As a delicacy this species takes rank with the canvas-back 
duck. Another terrapin, the Emys rubriventris, or red- 
bellied terrapin, very common in the Washington market, 
attains a large size, and is much esteemed as an article of 
food. The snapping turtle ( Chelonura serpentina) is also 
frequently found on the stalls of the dealers. The total 
number of species of turtles found within the District is 
about nine. One of them, the Emys picta, finds here nearly 
its southern limit, while the E. terrapin and rubriventris, 
both tide-water species, are not met with much further to 
the eastward. 

Of the true lizards, with scales, three species only 
have yet been found in the District, though one or two 
more may yet be detected. One of them, the Sceloporus 
undulaius, a rough, brown species, with blue neck, may 
frequently be seen running along the fences by the road- 
side. The six-lined lizard (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus) 
seldom occurs further north. The blue-tailed lizard, with 
five white lines j^Plestiodon), is often found in wood-piles. 

The list of serpents found about Washington is quite 
extensive, embracing at least twenty-one species. The 
most important of these is the deadly copperhead snake 
{Ancistrodon contortrix), not uncommon about the Little 
Falls. The rattlesnake is not now known to inhabit the 
District, though doubtless once a resident. Other serpents 
are the well-known black snake, various striped or garter 
snakes, water snakes, etc. Blowing vipers or hog-nosed 
snakes, erroneously believed to be venomous, are some- 
times met with. The slender green snake (Leptophis 
cestivus), characteristic of a southern fauna, as also Lam- 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 29 

propel tis getula, the chain-snake, are quite abundant. The 
rare L, clerica has several times been met with. 

Of the group of frogs and toads nine species are known, 
of all sizes, from the huge bull-frog, to the cricket-frog not 
larger than a blue-bottle fly, and very abundant in the 
slashes north of the city, w^here its singular note, resem- 
bling the sound of two pebbles struck rapidly together, 
may constantly be heard in the Summer season. The 
most curious species of all, however, is the spade-footed 
toad (Scaphiopus Holbrookii), which though quite abundant 
is very rarely seen, owing to its remaining buried up in sand 
or loose earth almost all the time, and coming out only 
during wet and stormy nights. The spade-shaped attach- 
ment to the hind feet is used to scoop out the earth, into 
which it speedily sinks and is covered up. 

Of the remaining group of reptiles — the salamanders, 
or water lizards, with smooth, naked, slimy skins, and 
living under damp logs, or stones, or in the water — there 
are about ten species, making fifty-two species, in all, of 
reptiles actually collected in the District. 

It may be well to mention here, by way of correcting 
a popular impression in the vicinity of Washington, that, 
with the exception of the copperhead (unless the rattle- 
snake still exists), there are no poisonous reptiles whatever 
in the District. However threatening in their actions the 
blowing vipers or adders, the black snakes, the green 
snakes, or the w r ater snakes may be, all, with the exceptions 
mentioned, are entirely destitute of venomous properties, 
although the scratch from their teeth might produce a 
festering sore, similar to that sometimes caused by a pin 
or needle. The lizards of all kinds, whether of the kind 
popularly known as scorpions by the country people, or 



30 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

others, are absolutely and positively harmless, few, if any, 
being able even to scratch by their bite enough to tear the 
skin. 

Ichthyology. — The fishes of the District present but 
few peculiarities; almost all of the species belong to 
genera that are represented in the northern as well as the 
southern States, species characteristic of the two sections 
of the country being here intermingled. Representatives 
of three and perhaps four of the sub-classes into which 
fishes may be divided are found. 

Of the true fishes, or Teleostei, there are numerous 
species which represent many genera. Some salt- 
water, estuary, and migratory species ascend as far 
up as the Falls of the Potomac. The "rock-fish," or 
"striped bass" (Eoccus lineatus, Gill), and the "white 
perch " (Morone Americana, Gill), are the best known and 
the most common. Both of them, but more especially the 
rock-iish, are much angled for. The white perch is caught 
principally in the Spring months, and the rock-fish in the 
Summer. 

The "sunfishes" (Lepomis or Pomotis) are .also quite 
numerous in the streams of the District. 

Of the Etheostomoids, a family peculiar to North 
America, representatives have been described, by Dr. 
Girard, of several generic groups. These are Arlina effal- 
gens, Estrella atro-maculata of Girard, the Percina nebulosa 
of Haldeman, and perhaps the Hadropterus maculatus of 
Girard. All of them are small fishes with two dorsal fins, 
the first of which is supported by slender spines. They 
appear to represent in the fresh waters of the United States 
the Gobioids of the Old World, and to be nearly allied to 
them. 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 31 

The "bill-fish" (Belone truncata of Lesueur), which 
belongs to the family of Scomberesocoids, is occasionally 
caught below the Falls. It is readily distinguished by its 
snipe-like bill, the dorsal and anal fins placed opposite 
each other and far back, and by the small scales. 

The family of Cyprinodonts is represented by several 
species confounded under the names of " minnows " and 
" killie-fish." They are distinguished by their depressed 
head covered with large scales, and the posterior position 
of their small dorsal fin. All of them are of small 
size. 

The family of the true Cyprinoids, as now restricted, 
has many species, belonging to a number of different gen- 
era. The Rhinichthys is a small fish, with a prominent 
snout, and a blackish band along the side. Two species, 
belonging respectively to the genera Cyprinella and Cli- 
nostomus of Dr. Girard, are among the most interesting, as 
they are the most eastern representatives of those genera 
known. They are favorite ornaments of fresh-water 
aquaria. The common " shiner " belongs to this family, 
and is the Luxilus chrysoleucas of naturalists. 

The " suckers " belong to a family very nearly allied to 
the preceding. Two species are quite abundant in the 
streams of the District. One is a Catastomus, and has a 
lateral line, or perforated row of scales along the sides, and 
the other, destitute of such a line, belongs to the genus 
Moxostoma. 

The" above-named species belong to one order to which 
the name of Teleocephali has been given ; the Cyprinoids 
and Catastomoids form a sub-order called JEventognathi ; 
the Cyprinodonts belong to the Physostomi; and the 
remainder to the sub-order of Physoclysti. 



32 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

Of the " cat-fishes " (JVematognathi), there are several 
species belonging to the genera Amiurus or Pimelodus of 
many naturalists, and Noturus. The latter is called " stone 
cat." The wound inflicted by its spines becomes exces- 
sively painful, and has even been known to produce death. 

Of the sub-class of Ganoids, the " garpike " (Lepidos- 
tens) and " sturgeon " (Accipenser) are abundant near 
Washington. They belong to two different orders. The 
former is easily distinguished by its rhombic enameled 
scales. 

A species of shark occasionally ascends the Potomac 
River. We then have a representative of the sub-class of 
Elasmobranchii, and of the order of Plagiostomes. 

The lamprey (Petromyzon), belonging to the sub-class 
of Dermopteri and order of Marsipobranchii, is said to be 
also an inhabitant of the District. 

Entomology. — The District has its entomological fauna 
in common with Maryland and northern Virginia, both of 
which belong to what is commonly called by entomologists 
the region of the Middle States. Those species only of 
this region which are peculiar to mountains or to the sea- 
shore are naturally wanting in the District. It may be 
said in general that the soil of the District is not favorable 
to insect life, as it consists chiefly of clay, sand, and boul- 
ders, and becomes too hard and dry in Summer. During 
the hot season, the insects do not find moisture enough to 
sustain their existence, and the hardness of the soil pre- 
vents them from seeking shelter under ground. The con- 
sequence is, that although the number of species occurring 
here is considerable, the number of specimens is not in 
proportion. A few more favored localities form an ex- 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 33 

ception to this rule ; a walk along Rock Creek and Pincy 
Branch, towards the slashes, where the latter takes its 
origin, may reward the collector for his exertions. The 
same may be said of some localities beyond the Eastern 
Branch, in the valleys between the hills on that side of 
the river. 

Conchology, etc, — The conchology of the District is in- 
teresting, the number (86) of shells in its fauna being large 
for so small a tract of country, which is in consequence of 
the great variety of stations. Fresh-water shells are par- 
ticularly numerous, since Ave have not only a large river 
with all kinds of shore, muddy below, and rocky above 
Georgetown ; but many smaller streams of all sizes, afford- 
ing stations for a great variety of species. There are 50 
species of fresh-water shells, 18 bivalves (of the genera 
Cyclas, Pisidium, Unio, Alasmodon, and Anodon), and 
32 univalves (Ancylus, Lymnea, Physa, Planorbis, Mela- 
nia, Anculosa, Paludina, Amnicola, and Valvata). The 
Unios are best obtained in the still waters of the canal, at 
the annual dra wing-off of the water. The Anculosae and 
Paludinae are very pretty shells, and are best found at 
low-water mark on rocks at the Little Falls. 

The land shells are of a northern rather than a south- 
ern type. There are 20 Helices, of which H. chersina, 
concava, fraterna, gularis, hirsuta, alter nata, lineata, sup- 
pressa, tridentata, and thyroidus are the most common. 
H. thyroidus is sometimes found in gardens ; all the rest 
live in the woods. There are also 4 Succinece, 1 Bull- 
7iius, 6 Pupae, 2 Vertiginae, and 1 Carychium. There is also 
a Limax and a Philomycus. The Limax comes out in 
the frosty weather of November, from among the grass 



34 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

in the Smithsonian grounds, and may be seen upon the 
gravel walks in great numbers on sunny mornings. 

Of Crustacea, there are two species of cray-fish ( Cam- 
barus), C. fossor and C. Pealei ; — the former makes the 
curious mud chimneys seen in swampy places, the latter 
lives in the deep water of the river. In small streams 
there is an Asellus, and a Gammarus. In wells there is 
found a curious little subterranean shrimp, (Niphargus ?) 
the first ever found in America, of a genus which has 
excited much attention in Europe. Pill-bugs (Armadillo, 
Porcellio, etc.) are very abundant. 

Dr. Girard discovered several fresh-water Planarise in 
the District, of which the Dvgesia Foremanni is one. 

BOTANY. 

The flora of any particular district is controlled to so 
great an extent by the character of the rocks and soils 
upon which the plants are found growing, that at the risk 
of repetition we must state that in the vicinity of Wash- 
ington the rocks may be divided into two kinds, one lying 
above the points reached by the head of tide-water in the 
Potomac and its branches, the other embracing all the 
country lying south of that line and near the river. The 
rocks of the first division are mostly gneissoid and slate 
rocks, the latter consisting of micaceous and talcose slates. 
Into these have intruded great masses of green stone, 
forming the heights of Georgetown, and which may be 
seen in section on the canal, near Georgetown College. 
It may be mentioned, with regard to these rocks, that 
Prof. Hitchcock, when on a visit a few years since to the 
Great Falls of the Potomac, recognized there the same 
formation of old slate rocks which in the southern States 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 35 

and in many other parts of the world contain auriferous 
deposits. 

The remaining division of the formations near Wash- 
ington consists of drift alluvial or superficial deposits, and 
exhibits vast beds of gravel, boulders, sand, clay, &c. 
These may also be subdivided into two kinds, that which 
is uppermost containing transported masses enclosing Si- 
lurian or Devonian fossils, some fragments of petrified 
wood, and not being highly colored by the presence of 
ferruginous matters. The lower beds are deeply stained 
with iron, and show in places thick beds of a ferruginous 
conglomerate. 

The flora of this District may be regarded as an inter- 
mingling of northern and southern forms, and exhibits but 
little worthy of remark which may not be likewise found 
along the coast region from New Jersey down to the lati 
tude of the mouth of the Chesapeake. The great orders 
of Ranuncidacece, Cruciferce, Leguminosce, Mosacece, Urn- 
belli ferw, Compositce, Labiatce, Orcliideaz, and Graminece 
very generally resemble in species what are found over a 
large circle of country around. As a notice of the genera 
and species individually would be out of place in this 
sketch, it is regarded as sufficient to indicate some of the 
special localities where the rarer kinds of plants may be 
found growing. 

Among the richer spots which reward the researches 
of the botanist, the margins of Rock Creek.and its tributa- 
ries, extending several miles in a northern direction, have 
been diligently visited. In the proper season, on the mar- 
gin of these streams, will be found among the commoner 
plants two splendid lilies, two phloxes, Pulmonaria Obo- 
laria, Apios tuberosa, spice wood, all the dwarf sunflowers, 



36 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

Equlsetum and ferns, whilst towering above all stands the 
great purple Eupatorium. One of the peculiarities of this 
locality is found in the marshy heads from which stream- 
lets issue and flow into the creek or its branches. These 
frequently cover several acres, and are generally shaded 
by large trees, interspersed among which are the magno- 
lia, poison sumach, Chionanthus, or fringe-tree, and the 
Nyssa or gum. These tracts are very boggy, and covered 
with Sphagnum (a moss), out of which, sometimes as early 
as the 15th of January, the skunk cabbage [Symplocar- 
pus) in vast numbers throws up its rich-colored spathe 
and flower, where also may be observed the curious 
young shoots of the Osmunda, or flowering fern, which are 
abundant. The most beautiful of our orchids are also to 
be seen later in the season in these dirty and inaccessible 
places, such as Arethusa, Pogonia, Triphora, Platanthera, 
and Calopogon. A search among the clumps of wild 
roses and alders will be repaid by a few plants of Kalmia 
glauca, Drosera, or sun-dew, and the rarer Lycopodiums. 
Among the hills bordering on these streams there is a 
locality which furnishes Dodecatheon meadia, Batschia 
canescens, and Gualtheria procumbens, which are exceed- 
ingly rare. 

The stretch of country known as " the slashes," within 
the city limits, was long the profitable resort of botanists, 
but is now nearly obliterated. The soil consists of a stiff 
clay, which, for the most part, is spongy, from holding 
water nearly all the Fall, Winter, and Spring. In Sum- 
mer it is hard-baked and dry, except in spots occupied by 
small, stagnant pools. These conditions once furnished 
protection for many curious plants which flowered before 
the dry season commenced. Among these, now no longer 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTOKY. 37 

seen, and much lamented, was an Utricularia, and many 
of the orchids. Drainage, grubbing, and perpetual de- 
pasturation has reduced the slashes to mere surfaces for 
the production of malaria, and as proper cemeteries for 
the dead animals of the city. Enough, however, remains 
to show that they were formerly covered with thickets of 
bramble, sweet gum, maple, magnolia, wintcrberry, wild 
roses, and white azaleas. Around the clumps and roots 
of these are still seen growing Arethusa, Pogonia, Habena- 
ria, several Violas, with Arnica, Asclepias, and Callifricke, 
in the more open spaces. 

In the immediate vicinity, the flat districts on the Vir- 
ginia side of the river, which are frequently overflowed 
by the tides, furnish the usual array of aquatic species. 
These are Pontederia Calla, Orontium, Sagittaria, &c., 
among the herbaceous plants, intermixed with a shrubby 
growth of grapevines, alnus, willow, button bush, or 
Cephalanihus, with Typha, or cat-tail, and Zizania, or wild 
rice, to represent the grasses. Not far distant from these, 
on not much drier soil, may be seen the red and blue 
Lobelia, Chelone, Bidens, or marsh marygold, a little pas- 
sion-flower, and the favorite blue Eupatorium or Conochin- 
ium. Floating in the waters of Four-Mile Run may be 
detected the graceful Nymphea odorata, and it is reported 
that the great yellow Nelumbium, or water chinquapin, 
may be gathered at Acquia Creek. Black birch, the 
silky cornel, sycamore, and hackberry, line the margins of 
the swamps, and are overrun by climbers, such as trum- 
pet-flower, ampelopsis, poison oak, Celastrus, and Mikania. 
These overshadow half stagnant pools filled with Myrio- 
phyllum, Chara, Ceratophyllum, and Anacharis, which 
abound with infusorial and other microscopic forms. In 



c8 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

the river flats there is little else than the Valisneria, the 
food of the canvas-back duck. 

Among the forest trees may be found about fifteen 
species of oaks, mostly of the commoner sorts. Those 
which deserve notice as being scarce are the scrub or bear 
oak, the laurel oak, and Bartram's oak, or Q. hetero- 
phylla ; the latter, upon the authority of two observers, 
being found within a few miles on a northeast line from 
the city. The chesnut, hickories, black walnut, and but- 
ternut, are common. The dwarf pine, Pinus inops, asso- 
ciated with Virginia cedar and sassafras, clothe the barren 
old fields, giving them an uninviting appearance. But 
few forest trees of original growth are now seen near the 
city. In private- grounds or parks, on Boundary Street, 
in Washington, or on Georgetown Heights, may be ob- 
served some fine examples of oaks, which are preserved 
with commendable care. A few proves of the vellow 
pine are still standing among the hills, a few miles north 
of the city, whilst near the river margin may be* seen 
some large specimens of American elm and linden. 

On the rocky bluffs on the south side of the river, and 
above the Aqueduct, we have, in the early Spring, rich 
masses of color from the red flowers of the Judas tree, the 
white flowering Amelanchier and dogwood, in contrast with 
the dark foliage of the surrounding pines and cedars ; and, 
at the water level of the same localities, the witch hazel, or 
Hammamelis, produces its yellow flowers in the Fall and 
its fruit in the Spring. Farther up the river, and near 
the Little Falls Bridge, a single settlement of Rhododen- 
dron maximum has been found half buried in the kalmia 
thickets overhanging the river. 

Here we encounter the evidences of the only strange 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 39 

flora which can be said to intrude into our District, most 
of the species of which can be traced up to the far western 
sources of the Potomac. They have been observed all 
over both sides of the river, as high up as the Great Falls, 
and many of them may be collected at or near High or 
Rock Island, about a mile above Little Falls Bridge. It 
will suffice to enumerate a few of the more common, viz.: 
Opuntia Muscari, Phlox divaricata, Phacelia, two species 
of Sedum, Dracocephalum, the blue Baptisia, Jeffersonia, 
Trillium, Asarum, a rare orchid, Tipularia discolor, Eri- 
genia bulbosa, Pentstemon, &c. They are also accompa- 
nied by the papaw, Dirca palustris, or leatherwood, Schol- 
lera and Ly thrum. 

Among the ferns we find about twenty species, which 
are abundant and well grown. The only species that need 
be mentioned for their scarcity is the Camptosurus, or 
walking fern, at Cabin John Aqueduct Bridge, and Asple- 
nium augusti folium, at High Island, before referred to. 



CLIMATOLOGY, 

The temperature of Washington (in the shade) ranges 
from 105 degrees above to twelve degrees below zero, of 
Fahrenheit's scale. The mean of January, the coldest 
month, is about 32°; and of July, the warmest month, 
about 77° . The mean temperature of the year is about 56° . 
Sudden changes of temperature are sometimes experi- 
enced, the thermometer falling 20 or 30 degrees in a few 
hours. These changes are not local, but may be traced, 
in different degrees, over a large extent of country, and 
come with a west or northwest wind. The river is gener- 
ally closed in the early part of January, and, in very cold 



40 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

Winters, heavy teams may cross on the ice. Snow rarely 
falls in sufficient quantities for sleighing, but sometimes 
admits of that mode of conveyance during several days. 
The Winter storms come from the west, and are preceded 
by a northeast wind. The prevailing wind in Winter is from 
the west or northwest, and in Summer from a southerly 
quarter. The amount of rain during a year averages about 
forty inches, the larger portion falling in the Summer 
months. The range of the barometer is nearly or quite 
two inches. Vegetation seems to proceed all Winter, 
and the migratory birds return about the first of April. 
Fair days are the rule, foul days form the exception, and 
the bad weather seems generally to commence at 3 o'clock 
in the afternoon or 4 in the morning. 

• HEALTH. 

The average rate of deaths is about one in fifty ; but 
owing to the fact that the corporation of Washington has 
no power to originate a penal statute, and as Congress has 
provided no penalty for failures to record births, mar- 
riages, and deaths, statistics upon these matters must 
necessarily be incomplete and unreliable. Owing to the 
wide streets and numerous open spaces, as well as to 
natural salubrity, the city and District are almost entirely 
exempt from epidemics ; the diseases incident to compact 
and crowded cities are here scarcely known. There are 
very few deaths from malarious diseases, and the number 
of these is annually decreasing. A large proportion of 
the deaths amongst strangers for which the climate of 
Washington is sometimes held responsible is to be 
attributed to two causes. — the entire change of diet and 
mode of life, by which the constitution is weakened and 



GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. 41 

every lurking disease strengthened, and too frequently 
the casting away of the moral integrity of home, by 
which the same result is obtained, and the victim of unu- 
sual dissipation is charged to the account of the climate of 
the seat of government. From the partial returns of the 
census of 1850, it appears that in a population of 51,687, 
there were only 846 recorded deaths, which would give 
the small percentage of 1.64. 

From the report of the Commissioner of Health, it 
appears that during the twelve years commencing July, 
1848, and ending July, 1860, the recorded deaths in the 
City of Washington have been as follows : — 

July 1848 to June 1849, 828 Deaths. 

July 1849 to June 1850, 868 

July 1850 to June 1851, 914 

July 1851 to June 1852, 1,003 

July 1852 to June 1853, 1,115 

July 1853 to June 1854, 1,209 

July 1854 to June 1855, 1,188 

July 1855 to June 1856, 1,081 

July 1856 to June 1857, 926 " 

July 1857 to June 1858, 1,108 

July 1858 to June 1859, 937 " 

July 1859 to June 1860, 820 

The greatest number of deaths seems to occur in the 
months of July and August, but January, February, and 
March present formidable bills of mortality, probably 
owing to the vast influx of strangers during the session 
of Congress. 

PROGRESS OF PO PUL ATI ON. 

It must be borne in mind, in connection with the ac- 
companying table showing the progress of population 



42 



WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 



from 1800 to 1860, that by an act of Congress, dated 
July 9th, 1846, Alexandria, town and county, was retro- 
ceded to Virginia, so that, in computing the progress of 
population in the District of Columbia up to 1840, the 
territory including Alexandria (embracing 9,969 inhabi- 
tants not since computed) was taken as a basis of calcu- 
lation. 

POPULATION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



N 


Total 


Increase 




Slave 


Increase 


Decade. 


Population. 


per cent. 


Decade. 


Population. 


per cent. 


1800 


14,093 




1800 


3,244 




1810 


24,023 


70.46 


1810 


5,395 


66.3 


1820 


33,039 


37.53 


1820 


• 6,377 


18.2 


1830 


39,834 


20.56 








1840 
1850 
1860 


43,712 
51,687 
75,115 


9.37 
18.24 
45.32 


1830 
1840 
1850 


6,119 
4,694 
-.3,687 


Decrease 

4.04 

23.28 

21.45 








1860 


3,185 


13.61 



CHAPTEE II. 



HISTORY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

The location of the seat of government was deter- 
mined by Congress with much deliberation. The sessions 
of the old Congress were held at various places, to meet 
the exigencies of the occasion and humor the spirit of 
rivalry manifested by the different States. The subject 
of a permanent seat of government was first debated in 
Congress after the insult offered to that body in Phila- 
delphia, in June, 1783, by a band of mutinous soldiers, 
who assailed the hall during session, demanding arrear- 
ages of pay. A resolution was passed, October 7, 1783, 
on motion of Elbridge Gerry, to erect buildings for Con- 
gress on the Delaware or the Potomac, provided a suitable 
district could be procured on either of those rivers, for a 
federal city. This resolution was subsequently modified, 
providing for the erection of buildings in both locations, 
and finally repealed, April 26, 1784. Congress met at 
Trenton in the following October, and appointed three 
commissioners to lay out a district, between two and three 
miles square, on the Delaware, for a federal town. At the 
meeting of Congress in New York, in January, 1785, an 
unsuccessful attempt was made to substitute the Potomac 



44 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

for the Delaware. Two years later the Constitution was 
adopted, declaring (Article I., Section 8) "The Congress 
shall have power to exercise exclusive legislation, in 
all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding 
ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States 
and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of govern- 
ment of the United States." On the 23d of December, 
1788, the Legislature of Maryland passed an act author- 
izing and requiring her members in Congress " to cede 
any district (not exceeding ten miles square) which the 
Congress may fix upon and accept for the seat of the 
government of the United States. In 1789 Congress 
debated the selection of a location of the "ten miles 
square," carefully considering the importance of a site in 
the centre of territory, population, and wealth, easy of 
access to the west, with a convenient communication with 
the seaboard. 

The northern members were in favor of a site on the 
Susquehanna, while the south favored the Delaware and 
Potomac ; and the comparative advantages of New York, 
Philadelphia, Germantown, Havre de Grace, Wright's 
Ferry, Baltimore, and Conococheague, now Washington, 
were warmly discussed. The South Carolinians opposed 
Philadelphia, because the Quakers favored emancipation. 
Large towns were objected to on the -score of undue influ- 
ence, while others ridiculed the idea of building palaces 
in the' forest. Instances of European capitals were cited 
in support of the claims of New York and Philadelphia. 
The House of Representatives passed a resolution Septem- 
ber 5, 1789, "That the permanent seat of the government 
of the United States ought to be at some convenient place 
on the banks of the Susquehanna, in the State of Pennsyl- 



HISTORY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 45 

vania." This alarmed the southern members, and es- 
pecially the Virginians, who strongly urged a location on 
the Potomac. Mr. Madison thought if the proceeding of 
that day had been foreseen by Virginia, that State might 
not have become a party to the Constitution. It was 
allowed by all to be a matter of vital importance to the 
Union. The bill to carry this resolution into effect passed 
the House by a vote of thirty-one to nineteen, and was 
amended by the Senate by inserting Germantown, Penn- 
sylvania, in place of the location on the Susquehanna. 
The action of the Senate was agreed to by the House, 
with an amendment providing that the laws of Pennsyl- 
vania should continue in force in said district until Con- 
gress should otherwise direct. The Senate postponed 
the consideration of this amendment until the next session. 
Germantown was thus actually agreed upon, but the bill 
eventually failed on account of the postponement. 

Following the example of the Maryland Legislature, 
in her act of cession, December 23, 1788, the Assembly of 
Virginia passed an act, December 3, 1789, ceding a dis- 
trict to Congress for the location of the seat of govern- 
ment, and also a resolution asking the cooperation of 
Maryland in inducing Congress to fix the seat of govern- 
ment upon the banks of the Potomac, and promising to 
advance a sum of money, not exceeding $120,000, towards 
erecting public buildings, — Maryland advancing a sum not 
less than two-fifths of that amount. Maryland acceded 
to the proposition, and agreed to advance the amount of 
money required. Other States made like offers of terri- 
tory, in their anxiety to have the seat of government 
within their boundaries. Congress was not disposed to 
act upon the question, as the greatest ill feeling and a 
3* 



46 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

spirit of dissension had arisen among the members upon 
the funding act. An amendment, providing for the 
assumption of the State debts to the amount of twenty- 
one millions, was rejected in the House. The north was 
m favor of the assumption, and the south was opposed to 
the inclination to locate the seat of government on the Sus- 
quehanna. 

At this critical juncture, Jefferson, then Secretary of 
State, and Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, met 
in conference, and proposed a compromise of the two 
vexed questions. Hamilton thought the north would 
consent to the location of the Capital on the Potomac, if 
the south would concede the amendment assuming the 
State debts. It was agreed that Jefferson should ask the 
interested parties to dinner next day, and propose the 
accommodation. The discussion took place accordingly, 
and it was decided to reconsider the vote upon the amend- 
ment, and two Potomac members, White and Lee, agreed 
to change their votes. Hamilton undertook to carry the 
other point with the northern members. Thus t*he' as- 
sumption bill was passed, and also the following bill, 
locating the seat of government : — 

An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent 
seat of the government of the United States. 

Sec. 1. Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Rep- 
resentatives of the United States of America in Congress 
assembled, That a district of territorv, not exceeding ten 
miles square, to be located as hereafter directed, on the 
river Potomac, at some space between the mouths of the 
Eastern Branch and Conococheague, be, and the same is 
hereby, accepted for the permanent seat of the govern- 
ment of the United States : Provided, nevertheless, That 
the operation of the laws of the State within such district 



HISTORY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 47 

shall not be affected by this acceptance until the time 
fixed for the removal of the government thereto, and un- 
til Congress shall otherwise by law provide. 

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the President 
of the United States be authorized to appoint, and by 
supplying vacancies happening from refusals to act, or 
other causes, to keep in appointment as long as may be 
necessary, three Commissioners, who, or any two of 
whom, shall, under the direction of the President, survey, 
and by proper metes and bounds define and limit a dis- 
trict of territory, under the limitations above mentioned ; 
and the district so defined, limited, and located, shall be 
deemed the district accepted by this act for the perma- 
nent seat of the government of the United States. 

'Sec. 3. And be it enacted, That the said Commission- 
ers, or any two of them, shall have power to purchase or 
accept such quantity of land on the eastern side of the 
said river, within the said district, as the President shall 
deem proper for the use of the United States ; and, ac- 
cording to such plans as the President shall approve, the 
said Commissioners, or any two of them, shall, prior to 
the first Monday in December, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred, provide suitable buildings for the accom- 
modation of Congress, and of the President, and for the 
public offices of the government of the United States. 

Sec. 4. And be it enacted, That, for defraying the ex- 
pense of such purchases and buildings, the President of 
the United States be authorized and requested to accept 
grants of money. 

Sec 5. And be it enacted, That, prior to the first Mon- 
day in December next, all officers attached to the seat of 
government of the United States shall be removed to, 
and, until the said first Monday in December, in the year 
one thousand eight hundred, shall remain at, the city of 
Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, at which 
place the session of Congress next ensuing the present 
shall be held. 

Sec. 6. And be it enacted, That on the said first Mon- 
day in December, in the year one thousand eight hundred, 



48 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

the seat of government of the United States shall, by 
virtue of this act, be transferred to the district and place 
aforesaid. And all offices attached to the said seat of 
government shall accordingly be removed thereto by 
their respective holders, and shall, after the said day, 
cease to be exercised elsewhere ; and that the necessary 
expense of such removal shall be defrayed out of the 
duties on impost and tonnage, of which a sufficient sum 
is hereby appropriated. 
Approved, July 16, 1790. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON, 

President of the United States. 

The Legislature of Maryland, on the 19th of Decem- 
ber, 1791, passed an act ratifying and confirming the 
cession of the District in the following terms : — 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, 
That all that part of the said territory, called Columbia, 
which lies within the limits of this State, shall be, and the 
same is hereby acknowledged to be, forever ceded and 
relinquished to the Congress and- Government of the 
United States, in full and absolute right and exclusive 
jurisdiction, as well of soil as of persons residing or to 
reside thereon, pursuant to the tenor and effect of the 
eighth section of the first article of the Constitution of 
Government of the United States : Provided, That nothing 
herein contained shall be so construed to vest in the 
United States any right of property in the soil, as to 
affect the rights of individuals therein, otherwise than the 
same shall or may be transferred by such individuals to 
the United States : And provided, also, That the jurisdic- 
tion of the laws of this State over the persons and prop- 
erty of individuals residing within the limits of the ces- 
sion aforesaid shall not cease or determine until Congress 
shall by law provide for the government thereof, under 
their jurisdiction, in manner provided by the article of 
the Constitution before recited. 

By an amendment, passed in Congress, March 3, 1791, 



HISTORY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 49 

so much of the act as required the District to be located 
above the mouth of the Eastern Branch is repealed, and the 
President is authorized to make any part of the territory 
below the said limit and above the mouth of Hunting 
Creek a part of said District, so as to include a convenient 
part of the Eastern Branch, and of the lands lying on the 
lower side thereof, and also the town of Alexandria, pro- 
vided that no public buildings be erected otherwise than 
on the Maryland side of the Potomac. Washington de- 
fined the boundaries of the District in the following amend- 
atory proclamation : — 

Whereas, by a proclamation, bearing date the 24th 
day of January, of this present year, and in pursuance of 
certain acts of the States of Maryland and Virginia, and 
of the Congress of the United States, therein mentioned, 
certain lines of experiment were directed to be run in the 
neighborhood of Georgetown, in Maryland, for the pur- 
pose of determining the location of a part of the territory 
of ten miles square, for the permanent seat of the govern- 
ment of the United States ; and a certain part was di- 
rected to be located within the said lines of experiment, 
on both sides of the Potomac, and above the limit of the 
Eastern Branch, prescribed by the said act of Congress ; 

And Congress, by an amendatory act, passed on the 
3d day of this present month of March, have given fur- 
ther authority to the President of the United States " to 
make any part of the said territory, below the said limit, 
and above the mouth of Hunting Creek, a part of the 
said District, so as to include a convenient part of the 
Eastern Branch and of the lands lying on the lower side 
thereof, and also the town of Alexandria ; " 

Now, therefore, for the purpose of amending and 
completing the location of the whole of the said territory 
of ten miles square, in conformity with the said amenda- 
tory act of Congress, I do hereby declare and make 
known that the whole of the said territory shall be lo- 



50 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

cated and included within the four lines following, that is 
to say, — 

Beginning at Jones' Point, being the upper cape of 
Hunting Creek, in Virginia, and at an angle in the outset 
of 45 degrees west of north, and running in a direct line 
ten miles, for the first line ; then beginning again at the 
same Jones' Point, and running another direct line at 
a right angle with the first, across the Potomac, ten 
miles, for the second line ; then, from the terminations of 
the said first and second lines, running two other direct 
lines, of ten miles each, the one crossing the Eastern 
Branch aforesaid, and the other the Potomac, and meet- 
ing each other in a point. 

And I do accordingly direct the Commissioners named 
under the authority of the said first-mentioned act of 
Congress to proceed forthwith to have the said four lines 
run, and by proper metes and bounds defined and limited, 
and thereof to make due report under their hands and 
seals ; and the territory so to be located, defined, and 
limited, shall be the whole territory accepted by the said 
act of Congress as the District for the permanent seat of 
the government of the United States. 

In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the 
United States to be affixed to these presents, and signed 
the same with my hand. Done at Georgetown aforesaid, 
the 30th day of March, in the year of our Lord, 1791, 
and of the Independence of the United States, the fif- 
teenth. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

In pursuance of the act of Congress, three Commis* 
sioners — Thomas Johnson, David Stuart, and Daniel Car- 
roll — were appointed in January, 1791, to survey the 
District ; and, on the 15th of April, they superintended 
the laying of the corner-stone of the District defined by 
the proclamation, at Jones' Point, near Alexandria, with 
all the usual Masonic ceremonies of the day. The Com- 



HISTORY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 51 

missioners informed Major L'Enfant, the engineer, in a 
letter dated at Georgetown, September 9, 1791, that they 
had agreed that the federal District shall be called the 
Territory of Columbia, and the federal city the City of 
Washington, and directed him to entitle his map accord- 
ing 1 }'- 

.Congress assumed jurisdiction over the District of 
Columbia by an act approved February 27, 1801. 

CITY OF WASHINGTON. 

In compliance with the act establishing the seat of 
government, the Commissioners proceeded to lay out a 
city. The boundaries are thus defined in the act of 
cession by the Legislature of Maryland, Dec. 19, 1791 : — 

The President of the United States directed a city to 
be laid out, comprehending all the lands beginning on the 
east side of Rock Creek, at a stone standing in the middle 
of the road leading from Georgetown to Bladensburgh ; 
thence along the middle of said road to a stone standing 
on the east side of the reedy branch of Goose Creek ; thence 
southeasterly, making an angle of sixty-one degrees and 
twenty minutes with the meridian, to a stone standing in 
the road leading from Bladensburgh to the Eastern Branch 
Ferry ; then south to a stone eighty poles north of the 
east and west line, already drawn from the mouth of 
Goose Creek to the Eastern Branch ; then east, parallel to 
the said east and west line, to the Eastern Branch ; then 
with the waters of the Eastern Branch, Potomac River, and 
Rock Creek, to the beginning, — which has since been 
f called the City of Washington. 

The original proprietors, Daniel Carroll, Notley Young, 
David Burns, and Samuel Davidson, deeded their lands 
in trust to Thomas Beall and John Mackall Gantt, trus- 
tees, who conveyed the same to the Commissioners, and 



52 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED 

their successors in office, for the United States, forever. 
The terms of sale are expressed in a letter of March 31, 
1791, from the President to the Secretary of State: — 

The terms entered into by me, on the part of the 
United States, with the landholders of Georgetown and 
Carrollsburgh, are, that all the land from* Rock Creek, 
along the river to the Eastern Branch, and so upwards to 
or above the Ferry, including a breadth of about a mile 
and a half, the whole containing from three to five thou- 
sand acres, is ceded to the public, on condition that, when 
the whole shall be surveyed and laid off as a city (which 
Major L'Enfant is now directed to do), the present pro- 
prietors shall retain every other lot ; and for such part of 
the land as may be taken for public use, for squares, 
walks, &c, they shall be allowed at the rate of $25 per 
acre, — the public having the right to reserve such parts 
of the wood on the land as may be thought necessary to 
be preserved for ornament. The landholders to have the 
use and profits of the grounds until the city is laid off 
into lots, and sale is made of those lots, which, by this 
agreement, become public property. Nothing is to be 
allowed for the ground which may be occupied for streets 
and alleys. 

Washington's attention was arrested, by the advan- 
tages which this location presents for a city, when he was 
a youthful surveyor of the country around, and he en- 
camped with Braddock's forces on the hill now occupied 
by the Observatory, which was long known as Camp Hill, 
from this circumstance. His earnest desire, that the seat 
of government should be located here, is said also to 
have had great influence in the decision of Congress. 
Washington directed Major L'Enfant in planning the 
city ; and, finding him somewhat arbitrary and refractory, 
he appointed Andrew Ellicott in his place. 

In laying out the plan of the city, Mr. Ellicott drew a 



HISTORY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 53 



meridional line, by astronomical observation, through the 
area intended for the Capitol, and upon this basis laid off 
two sets of streets, intersecting each other at right angles, 
and distinguished by letters and numbers. The streets 
running north and south are numbered, and those running 
east and west are lettered, taking the Capitol as a starting 
point. Avenues were then projected, cutting the streets 
at various angles, and connecting the most prominent and 
favorable points of the city, — the avenues intersecting each 
other and forming open spaces at certain points previously 
determined upon. 'These avenues are named after and 
located to correspond with the position of the different 
States in the Union, and are from 130 to 160 feet wide ; 
the streets vary from 90 to 110 feet. In the original plan, 
submitted to Congress in January, 1790, the following im- 
provements were suggested : — 

. 1 . An equestrian statue of Washington to occupy the 
present site of the Washington Monument. 

2. An historic and itinerary column to be erected at 
the intersection of Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ken- 
tucky, and Tennessee avenues. 

3. A naval column. 

4. Squares were to be given to the States for each to 
improve, and designed for statues, obelisks, etc. 

5. A church, for national purposes, to be located where 
the Patent Office now stands. 

6. Five grand fountains, on reservation 17, intersection 
of F street and Maryland avenue, H street and New York 
avenue, H street north and Pennsylvania avenue, and 
Market space. 

7. A grand avenue, four hundred feet in breadth, run- 
ning from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, and 



54: WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

connecting with the President's park, forming a beautiful 
drive, bordered with gardens and shade trees. In design- 
ing this, Major L' Enfant is presumed to have had in 
mind the garden between the Chamber of Deputies and 
the Tuileries, at Paris. It was expected that public build- 
ings or residences for the heads of departments and foreign 
ministers would be erected on this avenue. 

8. The water of Tiber Creek was to be conducted to 
the Capitol, and from thence through the grounds to the 
canal. In lieu of this supply, a spring of water was con- 
ducted to the Capitol from the eastern part of the city. 

The city is four miles and a half in length, from north- 
west to southeast, and two miles and a half in breadth. 
When the plan was completed, copies were sent to all 
parts of the country, and to Europe, — an act having been 
passed allowing aliens to hold lots, — and extensive invest- 
ments were made. The first speculations in lots proved 
ruinous, having been engaged in under the supposition 
that the squares east and south of the Capitol would be 
taken up immediately ; whereas, the location of the public 
buildings near the President's mansion turned improve- 
ment in that direction. 

The act of Congress authorizing the removal of the 
seat of government, required the completion of the public 
buildings before the first Monday in December, 1800. 
Washington found the greatest difficulty in procuring 
sufficient means. The fund donated by Maryland and 
Virginia was exhausted, and Congress, by act of May 6, 
1796, authorized the taking of loans for this purpose. 
Washington made a personal application to Maryland for 
a loan of $150,000. The Legislature of Maryland, by 
resolution of December 22, 1796, granted a loan of 



HISTORY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 55 



$100,000, on condition of the individual responsibility 
of the Commissioners. The buildings were reported ready 
for occupation on the 15th of June, 1800, and during that 
month the public offices were removed from Philadelphia, 
and Congress commenced its next session in the City of 
Washington on the 3d Monday of November following. 

It was customary at that time for the President to 
open the sessions of Congress by an address, delivered in 
person, instead of sending a message. On this occasion 
the House of Representatives repaired to the Senate 
Chamber, after the manner of the British Parliament, and 
President Adams addressed the two Houses as follows : — 

I congratulate the people of the United States on the 
assembling of Congress at the permanent seat of their 
government ; and I congratulate you, gentlemen," on the 
prospect of a residence not to be exchanged. It would be 
unbecoming the Representatives of this nation to assemble 
for the first time in this solemn temple without looking 
up to the Supreme Ruler of the universe and imploring 
His blessing. It is with you, gentlemen, to consider 
whether the local powers over the District of Columbia, 
vested by the Constitution in the Congress of the United 
States, shall be immediately exercised. If, in your 
opinion, this important trust ought now to be executed, 
you cannot fail, while performing it, to take into view the 
future probable situation of the territory, for the happi- 
ness of which you are about to provide. You will con- 
sider it as the Capital of a great nation, advancing with 
unexampled rapidity in arts, in commerce, in wealth, and 
in population, and possessing within itself those resources 
which, if not thrown away, or lamentably misdirected, 
will secure to it a long course of prosperity and self- 
government. 

The Senate, in their reply, said : " We meet you, sir, 
and the other branch of the National Legislature, in the 
city which is honored by the name of our late hero and 



56 „ WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

sage, the illustrious Washington, with sensations and 
emotions which exceed our power of description." 

The House of Representatives, in reply, said : " The 
final establishment of the seat of our national government, 
which has now taken place in the District of Columbia, is 
an event of no small importance in the political transac- 
tions of our country. Nor can we on this occasion omit 
to express a hope that the spirit which animated the great 
founder of this city may descend to future generations; 
and that the wisdom, magnanimity, and steadiness which 
marked the events of his public life may be imitated in all 
succeeding ages. A consideration of those powers which 
have been vested in Congress over the District of Colum- 
bia will not escape our attention ; nor shall we forget 
that, in exercising those powers, a regard must be had to 
those events which will necessarily attend the Capital of 
America." 

The appearance of the city at this time is thus described 
by the Hon. John Cotton Smith, of Connecticut : — 

Our approach to the city was accompanied with 
sensations not easily described. One wing of the Capitol 
only had been erected, which, with the President's house, 
a mile distant from it, both constructed with white sand- 
stone, were shining objects in dismal contrast with the 
scene around them. Instead of recognizing the avenues 
and streets portrayed on the plan of the city, not' one was 
visible, unless we except a road, with two buildings on 
each side of it, called the New Jersey avenue. The Penn- 
sylvania, leading, as laid down on paper, from the Capitol 
to the Presidential mansion, was then nearly the whole 
distance a deep morass, covered with alder bushes, which 
were cut through the width of the intended avenue during 
the then ensuing Winter. Between the President's house 
and Georgetown a block of houses had been erected, which 
then bore, and may still bear, the name of the six build- 
ings. There were also two other blocks, consisting 
of two or three dwelling-houses, in different directions, 
and now and then an insulated wooden habitation, — the 



HISTORY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. ( 57 

intervening spaces, and indeed the surface of the city gen- 
erally, being covered with shrub oak bushes on the higher 
grounds, and on the marshy soil either trees or some sort of 
shrubbery. Nor was the desolate aspect of the place a little 
augmented by a number of unfinished edifices atGreenleaf's 
Point, and on an eminence a short distance from it, com- 
menced by an individual whose name they bore, but the 
state of whose funds compelled him to abandon them, not 
only unfinished, but in a ruin cms condition. There ap- 
peared to be but two really comfortable habitations in all 
respects within the bounds of the city, one of which be- 
longed to Dudley Carroll, Esq., and the other to Notley 
Young, who were the former proprietors of a large pro- 
portion of the land appropriated to the city, but who 
reserved for their own accommodation ground sufficient 
for gardens and other useful appurtenances. The roads in 
every direction were muddy and unimproved. A side- 
walk was attempted in one instance by a covering formed 
of the chips of the stones which had been hewn for the 
Capitol. It extended but a little way, and was of little 
value ; for in dry weather the sharp fragments cut our 
shoes, and in wet weather covered them with white mor- 
tar. In short, it was a " new settlement." The houses, 
with two or three exceptions, had been very recently 
erected, and the operation greatly hurried in view of the 
approaching transfer of the national government. A 
laudable desire* was manifested, by what few citizens and 
residents there were, to render our condition as pleasant 
as circumstances would permit. One of the blocks of 
buildings already mentioned was situated on the east side 
of what was intended for the Capitol square, and, being 
chiefly occupied by an extensive and well-kept hotel, accom- 
modated a goodly number of the Members. Our little 
party took lodgings with a Mr. Peacock, in one of the 
nouses on New Jersey avenue, with the addition of Sen- 
ators Tracy, of Connecticut, and Chipman and Paine, of 
A^ermont ; and Representatives Thomas, of Maryland, and 
Dana, Edmond, and Griswold, of Connecticut. Speaker 
Sedgwick was allowed a room to himself — the rest of us 



58 WASHINGTON DESCKIBED. 

in pairs. To my excellent friend Davenport and myself 
was allotted a spacious and decently furnished apartment, 
with separate beds, on the lower floor. Our diet was 
various, but always substantial, and we were attended by 
active and faithful servants. A large proportion of the 
southern Members took lodgings at Georgetown, which, 
though of a superior order, were three miles distant from 
the Capitol, and of course rendered the daily employment 
of hackney coaches indispensable. 

Notwithstanding the unfavorable aspect which Wash- 
ington presented on our arrival, I cannot sufficiently express 
my admiration of its local position. From the Capitol 
you have a distinct view of its fine, undulating surface, sit- 
uated at the confluence of the Potomac and its Eastern 
Branch, the wide expanse of that majestic river to the bend 
at Mount Vernon, the cities of Alexandria and George- 
town, and the cultivated fields and blue hills of Maryland 
and Virginia on either side of the river, the whole consti- 
tuting a prospect of surpassing beauty and grandeur. The 
city has also the inestimable advantage of delightful water, 
in many instances flowing from copious springs, and always 
attainable by digging to a moderate depth ; to which may 
be added the singular fact that such is the due admixture 
of loam and clay in the soil of a great portion of the city 
that a house may be built of brick made of the earth dug 
from the cellar ; hence it was not unusual to see the 
remains of a brick-kiln near the newly-erected dwelling- 
house or other edifice. In short, when we consider not 
only these advantages, but what, in a national point of 
view, is of superior importance, the location on a fine, 
navigable river, accessible to the whole maritime frontier 
of the United States, and yet easily rendered defensible 
against foreign invasion, — and that, by the facilities of inter- 
nal navigation and railways, it may be approached by the 
population of the western States, and indeed of the whole 
nation, with less inconvenience than any other conceivable 
situation, — we must acknowledge that its selection by Wash- 
ington as the permanent seat of the federal government af- 
fords a striking exhibition of the discernment, wisdom, and 



HISTORY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, 59 

forecast which characterized that illustrious man. Under 
this impression, whenever, during the six years of my con- 
nection with Congress, the question of removing the seat of 
government to some other place was agitated — and the 
proposition was frequently made — I stood almost alone 
as a northern man in giving my vote in the negative. 

President Adams took possession of the new mansion 
on his arrival in November, and Mrs. Adams, in a letter 
to her daughter, gave her impressions of the President's 
house and the city as follows : — 

The house is upon a grand and superb scale, requir- 
ing about thirty servants to attend and keep the apart- 
ments in proper order, and perform the ordinary busi- 
ness of the house and stables — an establishment very 
well proportioned to the President's salary. The light- 
ing the apartments, from the kitchen to parlors and 
chambers, is a tax indeed, and the fires we are obliged to 
keep to secure us from daily agues is another very cheering 
comfort. To assist us in this great castle, and render less 
attendance necessary, bells are -wholly wanting, not one 
single one being hung through the whole house, and prom- 
ises are all you can obtain. This is so great an incon- 
venience that I know not what to do or how to do. The 
ladies from Georgetown and in the city have many of them 
visited me. Yesterday I returned fifteen visits. But such 
a place as Georgetown appears ! Why, our Milton is 
beautiful. But no comparisons ; if they put me up bells, 
and let me have wood enough to keep fires, I design to be 
pleased. But, surrounded with forests, can you believe 
that wood is not to be had, because people cannot be found 
to cut and cart it. * * * * We have indeed come 
into a new country. 

The house is made habitable, but there is not a single 
apartment finished, and all within side, except the plaster- 
inn, has been done since B. came. We have not the least 
fence, yard, or convenience without, and the great unfinished 
audience-room I make a drying-room of, to hang up the 



GO WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

clothes in. * * If the twelve years in which this place 
has been considered as the future seat of government had 
been improved, as they would have been in New England, 
very many of the present inconveniences would have been 
removed. It is a beautiful spot, capable of any improve- 
ment, and the more I view it the more I am delighted 
with it. 

Many amusing jokes were cracked at the expense of 
the city, in its infancy, by the wags of Philadelphia, New 
York, and other cities jealous of the location of the seat 
of government. It was styled the " city of magnificent 
distances," and the Capitol the " palace in the wilderness." 
Indeed, the heart of the present city was at that time but 
waste, swamp, and thicket, and snipe-shooting was com- 
mon on the borders of Pennsvlvania avenue. The Indian 
name of the place was Conococheague, meaning Roaring 
Brook, from a stream of that name which falls into the 
Potomac above Georgetown. The elevated plateau on 
the east side of the city, known as Capitol Hill, was for- 
merly called Rome by its proprietor, whose name was 
Pope, and who fancied the title of Pope of Rome. Prom 
this circumstance, the inlet from the Potomac was at that 
time called the Tiber, but the name has since been applied 
to the small stream emptying into the canal, although 
General Washington denominated it Goose Creek, in 
defining the boundary of the city. 

Washington was incorporated as a city by act of Con- 
gress passed May 3, 1802. Under the auspices of Presi- 
dent Jefferson, Pennsylvania avenue was planted with 
Lombardy poplars, one row on each side and two in the 
middle, to imitate the beautiful walk and drive in Berlin, 
known as Unter den Linden. The poplars, however, did 
not flourish, and were removed when the avenue was 



HIBTORY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 61 

graded and paved, by acts of Congress passed May 25, 
1832, and February 19, 1833. The city was planned on 
a grand, national scale, too extensive for municipal im- 
provement alone, and Congress originally proposed to 
make liberal expenditures in adorning the squares, grad- 
ing streets and avenues, and decorating public buildings 
and grounds in a manner becoming the court city of a 
nation. Congress has not displayed a proper spirit under 
the circumstances, and has never appropriated funds equal 
to a tax upon the government property in the city. 

Frequent attempts have been made to remove the 
seat of government, but public sentiment has been uni- 
formly opposed to it, although the constitutionality of a 
removal is conceded. 

BRITISH CAPTURE OF WASHINGTON. 

In the Spring of the year 1814 some apprehensions 
were felt, by the administration at Washington, of an 
attack upon the seat of government, by British forces 
from Admiral Cockburn's fleet, then ravaging the coasts 
of Maryland and Virginia, and the shores of the Chesa- 
peake. Apprisals of the danger were sent to this govern- 
ment from our ministers abroad, and, in view of this, 
President Madison immediately ordered a militia organi- 
zation sufficient for such an emergency. In order to check 
the inroads of Cockburn's fleet, a flotilla of barges, carry- 
ing heavy guns, was fitted out and put under the command 
of Captain Joshua Barney, an experienced, privateersman, 
who succeeded in eluding the pursuit of the British fleet, 
while he did the enemy much injury, and kept them from 
making further spoliations. The alarm of intended inva- 
sion was treated with contempt by John Armstrong, the 
4 



62 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

Secretary of War, and the National Intelligencer ', then 
the leading journal. General Armstrong sneered at the 
probability of an attempt to plunder the Sheep- Walk, as 
he styled the federal city, of eight thousand inhabitants, 
■with streets scarcely defined by foot-paths. 

Admiral Cochrane sailed from Bermuda, on the 3d of 
August, with three thousand troops, under Major-General 
Robert Ross, and arrived in the Chesapeake on the 14th, 
where he joined Cockburn's fleet, making in all twenty 
sail. This fleet sailed up the bay and debarked four 
thousand troops, under General Ross and Admiral Cock- 
burn, at Benedict, on the left bank of the Patuxent River, 
on the 20th of August. On the afternoon of the 21st the 
little army set out on the march for Washington, with- 
out artillery or cavalry, and, after a trying march under a 
broiling sun, which caused many to sink from fatigue, the 
town of Bladensburgh was reached, on the 24th of August, 
without the slightest molestation. 

By order of William Jones, Secretary of the Navy, 
the Barney flotilla was blown up at 9 in the morning of 
the 22d, — and the sound of the explosion cheered up the 
enemy on what their commander considered a desperate 
undertaking The approach of the British, under Ross 
and Cockburn, had been ascertained and observed by 
President Madison in person, and he attended eight 
thousand undisciplined militia to the heights of Bladens- 
burgh to meet them. Our forces w r ere placed under the 
command of General Winder, and consisted mainly of raw r 
militia ordered out for the occasion. Captain Barney, 
with four hundred seamen and some field pieces, joined 
the army of defence immediately after giving orders for 
the destruction of his flotilla. The British opened a fire 



HISTORY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 63 

upon our lines about one o'clock in the afternoon of the 
24th, and their advances were promptly checked by a 
terribly-destructive fire from Barney's artillery, which 
kept its position until four o'clock, while the militia under 
the command of General Winder seem to have been kept 
out of musket range. It is a remarkable fact that the 
militia met with little or no loss, notwithstanding the 
engagement continued for three hours, and each of the 
enemy was supplied with sixty rounds of ball cartridges. 
The fighting was done entirely by the seamen under 
Commodore Barney, — for, upon the first charge received 
by the militia, they broke and fell back, and finally fled 
altogether, leaving Barney unsupported. He was soon 
flanked by superior numbers, and fell, wounded, among 
eleven of his marines, who were killed by his side. Cap- 
tain Barney ordered his men to retreat, and surrendered 
himself to a British officer. The conduct of the militia 
was extremely disgraceful, and any attempt to exonerate 
the retreat would be to stigmatize the American charac- 
ter and arms with cowardice. Our raw recruits never 
behaved so badly before or since. General Winder was 
loth to expose the citizens of Washington and Baltimore, 
who composed the ranks, to destruction by British regu- 
lars, — and the militia-men, partaking naturally of the 
same spirit, took to their heels and fled into the woods 
without waiting for their prudent General to sound a 
retreat. The seamen under Barney received the highest 
commendation from the British, on the field. The facts 
in the case are stated by Gleig, an officer of the 85th 
Royal regiment, on duty on this occasion : — 

This battle, by which the fate of the American Cap- 
itol was decided, began about one o'clock in the afternoon, 



Gi WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

and lasted till four. The loss on the part of the English 
was severe, since, out of two-thirds of the army, which 
were engaged, upwards of five hundred men were killed and 
wounded ; and what rendered it doubly severe was, that 
among these were numbered several officers of rank and 
distinction. Colonel Thornton, who commanded the light 
brigade ; Lieutenant-Colonel Wood, commanding the 
85th regiment; and Major Brown, w r ho had led the ad- 
vanced guard, were all severely wounded ; and General 
Ross himself had a horse shot under him. On the side 
of the Americans the slaughter was not so great. Being 
in possession of a strong position, they were of course 
less exposed in defending, than the others in storming it ; 
and had they conducted themselves with coolness and 
resolution, it is not conceivable how the day could have 
been won. But the fact is, that, with the exception of a 
party of sailors from the gun boats, under the command 
of Commodore Barney, no troops could behave worse 
than they did. The skirmishers were driven in as soon 
as attacked, the first line gave way without offering 
the slightest resistance, and the left of the main body 
was broken w r ithin half an hour after it was seriously en- 
gaged. Of the sailors, however, it would be injustice not 
to speak in the terms which their conduct merits. They 
were employed as gunners, and not only did they serve 
their guns with a quickness and precision which aston- 
ished their assailants, but they stood till some of them 
were actually bayoneted with fuses in their hands ; nor 
was it till their leader was wounded and taken, and they 
saw themselves deserted on all sides by the soldiers, that 
they quitted the field. 

It must be remarked that Gleig's statement of the 
loss of the British refers to the number of killed, woundecl, 
missing, and deserters, from the morning of the battle 
until their re-embarkation, including the casualties in 
Washington. Ross, in his dispatch, dated August 30th, 
stated the loss in the action at Bladensburgh to be sixty- 



HISTORY OF THE SEAT OE GOVERNMENT. 65 

four killed, and one hundred and eighty-five wounded and 
missing. 

On the other hand, the citizen militia escaped, pretty 
much unhurt, with their valuable lives; and without form- 
ing again to impede the progress of the enemy, or to 
defend the Capitol and public buildings, disappeared en- 
tirely from the District, leaving their wives and families 
to the mercy of the victors. 

The third British brigade was led into the city by 
General Ross, and marshaled in front of the Capitol. In 
approaching the Capitol the horse of General Ross was 
shot under him by one of Barney's sailors, who had en- 
sconced himself in a house for that purpose. The inmates 
of the house were immediately put to the sword and the 
house set in flames. A volley was fired into the windows 
of the Capitol, when the soldiers entered and prepared its 
destruction. Admiral Cockburn mounted the Speaker's 
chair, and put the question, "Shall this harbor of Yankee 
democracy be burned 1 All for it will say aye !" After 
reversing the question, he pronounced the motion carried 
unanimously, and ordered combustibles to be applied to 
the furniture. In a room adjoining the Senate chamber 
portraits of Louis the Sixteenth and Marie Antoinette, 
King and Queen of France, were cut out of the frames 
and burned or stolen. The building was fired in several 
places and soon wrapped in flames. 

The Secretary of the Navy had previously given orders 
to Commodore Tingey to destroy the shipping and stores 
at the Navy Yard, in the event of a defeat at Bladensburgh, 
to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. 

At four o'clock the Secretary of War dispatched a 
messenger to Tingey, informing him that no further pro- 



06 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

tection could be expected, — upon which that officer pre- 
pared to fire the vessels and buildings. Earnest- appeals 
were made by the citizens, and even the ladies, to save 
the yard from destruction, but without avail. At twenty 
minutes past eight o'clock the match was applied to the 
train, and the work of the enemy was performed by our 
own hands. The sloop-of-war Argus with ten guns 
mounted, five barges fully armed, two gun-boats, the 
frigate Columbia on the stocks, and a large quantity of 
naval stores, were'consigned to the flames. The schooner 
Lynx, and the Arsenal, by some oversight, escaped the 
sacrifice. 

The scene is thus described by Lieutenant Gleig, as it 
appeared to the British on entering the city : — 

While the third brigade was thus employed, the 
rest of the army, having recalled its stragglers and re- 
moved the wounded into Bladensburgh, began its march 
towards Washington. Though the battle was ended by 
four o'clock, the sun had set before the different regiments 
were in a condition to move, consequently this short 
journey was performed in the dark. The work of destruc- 
tion had also begun in the city before they quitted their 
ground, and the blazing of houses, ships, and stores — the 
report of exploding magazines and the crash of falling 
roofs — informed them as they proceeded of what was 
going forward. You can conceive nothing finei; than the 
sight which met them as they drew near to the town. 
The sky was brilliantly illumined by the different conflagra- 
tions, and a dark-red light was thrown upon the road, suffi- 
cient to permit each man to view distinctly his comrade's 
face. Except the burning of St. Sebastian's, I do not recol- 
lect to have witnessed at any period of my life a scene more 
striking or more sublime. Having advanced as far as the 
plain where the reserve had previously paused, the first 
and second brigades halted, and, forming into close column, 
passed the night in bivouac. 



HISTOliY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 67 

After firing the Capitol, the British commanders took 
their silent march to the other end of Pennsylvania 
avenue, and having taken possession of the lodging-house 
of Mrs. Suter, opposite the Treasury Department, they 
ordered supper. Meanwhile they set fire to the Treasury 
building and the President's Mansion. The President 
had retired from the city with his Cabinet, on horseback, 
immediately after the close of the battle at Bladensburgh, 
— crossing the Potomac at the Little Falls, re-crossing 
at the Great Falls, and returning after the evacuation by 
the enemy. 

It is stated by Gleig that the table was found spread 
at the President's House, and covers laid for forty guests, 
in view of a welcome of the victorious defenders of the 
city. The wine was cooling on the sideboard, the plates 
warming at the grate, and meats on the spits in the 
kitchen, ready for a sumptuous repast. However, no 
repast was enjoyed by the hostile troops, as Ross and 
Cockburn returned to the house of Mrs. Suter, and, after 
extinguishing the lights, ate their supper by the blaze of 
the burning buildings. 

Later in the evening General Ross rejoined the main 
army at their encampment on Capitol Hill, when they 
were exposed to the inclemency of a severe thunder 
storm which occurred in the night. Admiral Cockburn, 
with a few of his dissolute companions, spent the night 
in a brothel, rivaling the elements in rendering the night 
hideous with their disgusting orgies. During the night 
the sentries were attacked, in a fit of rashness, by a grand- 
nephew of General Washington — John Lewis, a young 
sailor. He was shot down in the street, where he was 
found dead in the morning, The Long Bridge across the 



08 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

Potomac was fired simultaneously, at both ends, by the 
British and Americans, under the false apprehension of 
an attack from the opposite shore. •• In its destruction 
some military stores were burned upon the Virginia side. 

On the morning of the 25th the two commanders re- 
newed their work of demolition by burning the building 
occupied by the War and Navy Departments. Cock- 
burn, mounted upon a switch-tailed mare, and followed 
by her foal, paraded the streets, enjoying the effect of his 
ludicrous appearance and the terror of the women and 
children. The Post and Patent Office was, with reluc- 
tance, spared by the enemy, upon the appeal of Dr. 
Thornton, to save private property stored in the building. 

Cockburn took personal revenge upon the editors of 
the National Intelligencer, for some remarks published 
concerning him, by destroying the presses in the office 
and throwing the type out of the windows, — the Admiral 
enjoining upon them to " be sure that all the C's were 
destroyed, that the rascals could have no further means of 
abusing his name," and declaring that " he would punish 
Madison's man, Joe, as he had his master, Jim." That 
venerable sheet, in its usual conservative spirit, a few 
days afterwards attributed the acts of plunder entirely to 
lawless citizens. This article was the basis of the state- 
ment, in a London journal, that " the only acts of robbery 
and destruction of private property were admitted to 
have been perpetrated by our own countrymen ! " Be- 
sides the destruction, of private property already men- 
tioned, the houses of General Washington and Mr. Frost, 
and the hotel of Daniel Carroll, were burned on Capitol Hill. 

The destroyers then proceeded to the Navy Yard to 
complete the ruin in which they had been too promptly 



HISTORY OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 69 

anticipated. Not content with burning the public works 
and stores, they also set fire to the private rope-walks of 
Tench, Ringgold, Heath & Co., and John Chalmers, and 
shamefully mutilated the beautiful monument erected 
by the officers of the navy to the gallant heroes who fell, 
at Tripoli, in a war to secure British as well as Amer- 
ican rights, and to punish pirates, the enemies of mankind. 

After setting fire to the rope-walks on Greenleaf 's 
Point, the torch was thrown into a dry well, in which the 
Americans had previously cast a large quantity of pow- 
der, arms, and military stores. The consequence was a 
tremendous explosion, which brought death and destruc- 
tion upon all around. Nearly one hundred of the bar- 
barous invaders were killed and wounded, and their mu- 
tilated remains scattered in every direction. 

In addition to the general consternation produced by 
this casualty, a frightful tornado swept over the city, 
which threw down buildings and dealt destruction to 
everything in its path. The blackness of the sky, the 
howling of the tempest, the cataract of rain, the gleam- 
ing of the lightning, the roar of thunder, and the crash of 
falling buildings, conspired to render the scene terrific 
beyond description, striking terror to the hearts of friend 
and foe. Trees were torn up by the roots, and roofs of 
houses whirled in the air like sheets of paper. Scores of 
the enemy, as well as inhabitants, were buried amid the 
ruins of fallen buildings, and the elements seemed to unite 
in completing the work of the despoilers. The British 
now taking a needless alarm for their own safety, falsely 
apprehending an attack, withdrew stealthily from the city, 
as the evening closed in, and took up their march for the 

point of embarkation. 

4.* 



CHAPTEK III. 

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 



Before entering upon a description of the departments 
of the government, we have some pride and much pleasure 
in stating that any individual having legitimate business 
with any department, from the President downwards, 
will find that all reasonable requests are met with the 
utmost politeness. From the highest to the lowest, 
the conduct of the officials at the seat of government is 
regulated by a code of courtesy which is based upon the 
recognized sovereignty of the people. No fees are needed 
to procure access to the President or the chiefs of depart- 
ments during the hours set apart for the approach of the 
public. If a document' has been filed away in some dusty 
pigeon-hole for half a century, and you are entitled to 
peruse it, although it may require several days of labor, 
the proper officer will in due time produce it for your 
inspection. No armed sentinels morosely oppose the 
entrance of the humblest; patience seems to be the 
universal characteristic of the employes. Perhaps it 
may not be out of place to suggest that an equal courtesy 
requires the visitor to avoid an unnecessary consumption 
of public time by requesting what cannot be given, or 
asking questions which cannot be answered. 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 71 



THE EXECUTIVE MANSION AND THE 
PRESIDENT. 

The Executive Mansion, generally known as the 
" White House," is situated in the western portion of the 
city, surrounded by the War, Navy, Treasury, and State 
Departments. The building was commenced in 1792, and 
was modeled after the palace of the Duke of Leinstcr. A 
premium for the best design having been offered by the 
Commissioners of the City of Washington, James Hoban 
presented a plan, which was accepted. On the 13th of 
October, 1792, a procession was formed, and the corner- 
stone was laid with due formality. The building is one 
hundred and seventy feet front and eighty-six deep ; it is 
built of freestone, painted white, with Ionic pilasters, com- 
prehending two lofty stories of rooms, crowned with a 
balustrade. The north front is ornamented with a portico, 
of four Ionic columns in front, and a projecting screen with 
three columns. The* outer intercolumniation is for car- 
riages ; the middle space is the entrance for visitors who 
come on foot ; the steps from both lead to a broad plat- 
form in front of the door of entrance. The garden front 
is varied by having a rusticated basement story under the 
Ionic ordonnance, and by a semicircular projecting colon- 
nade of six columns, with two nights of steps leading from 
the ground to the level of the principal story. In the 
interior, the north entrance opens immediately into a spa- 
cious hall of forty by fifty feet. Advancing through a 
screen of Ionic columns, apparently of white marble, but 
only an imitation, the door in the centre opens into the 
oval room, or saloon, of forty by thirty feet. Adjoining 
this room are two others, each thirty by twenty-two feet 



72 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

in size ; these form a suite of apartments devoted to occa- 
sions of ceremony. The great banqueting-room occupies 
the whole depth of the east side of the mansion, and is 
eighty feet long by forty feet wide, with a clear height of 
twenty-two feet. Inadequate as the building is now con- 
fessed to be for the accommodation of the chief magistrate 
of the nation, there was a time when it was deemed quite 
too extensive and grand, as is evident by the following 
extract from the correspondence of Oliver Wolcott, under 
date of July 4, 1800: "It was built to be looked at by 
visitors and strangers, and will render its occupant an 
object of ridicule with some and of pity with others. It 
must be cold and damp in Winter, and cannot be kept in 
tolerable order without a regiment of servants." 

Notwithstanding this prophetic declaration, in which 
there is much of truth, time has demonstrated that, despite 
all the risks of cold, damp, ridicule, and pity, a tenant has 
always been found willing to venture the dangers of its 
occupancy. As indicated in Chapter II., the Executive 
Mansion was injured during the British invasion ; in 1815 
it was repaired, under the superintendence of James 
Hoban. So unfit is the mansion for the purpose to which 
it is devoted that the Commissioner of Public Buildings 
has frequently called the attention of Congress to the fact, 
and, in 1860, felt obliged to use the following plain but 
emphatic terms : — 

Much has been done to the President's House in the 
way of repairs. The roof requires constant attention and 
expenditure of money. The copper was not put on prop- 
erly. The sheets simply lap, instead of being grooved, 
and consequently the temperature acting upon the copper, 
alternately contracting and expanding it, opens the seams 
and produces leaks which disfigure and greatly injure the 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 73 

ceilings. To repair it as it ought to be would cost almost 
as much as a new roof. The house is now in as good 
order as it can be made, with the temporary repairs that 
are usually put upon it. Unless thoroughly renovated, 
owing to its age, it will soon again be out of repair. It is 
almost impossible to keep such an old building in a habit- 
able condition. 

A fine conservatory and green-house are connected 
with the house, and the grounds adjacent are well kept 
and tastefully laid out. Looking southward, the view of 
the Potomac River is very beautiful, and during the Sum- 
mer a fountain gratifies the eye and soothes the ear with 
its ripplings. 

In the lawn, on the north side, is a bronze statue of 
Jefferson, the ownership of which is somewhat doubtful, as 
it was purchased by Capt. Levy, U. S. N., and offered to, 
but not accepted by, the Senate of the United States. 

The President, — In other portions of this volume, as 
the reader will perceive by referring to the index, we 
have indicated the mode of election, tenure of office, sal- 
ary and duties of the President ; in the chapter upon 
etiquette, we have also explained the laws of courtesy 
governing the citizen in his approach to the elected chief 
of the government. It only remains therefore to an- 
nounce that, while the President is a public servant, he is 
not the servant of each individual composing that mythi- 
cal tyranny, " The Public." Let it be understood that 
while every man who becomes President of the United 
States agrees to devote certain portions of certain days to 
miscellaneous hand-shakings and applications for oppor- 
tunities to serve the republic, his time is very precious, 
and no one individual, unless charged with most extraor- 



ft 



4 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 



dinary public business, is entitled to more than two 
minutes of conversation with him. 

The inauguration of the President usually, but not 
necessarily, takes place in Washington. The Constitution 
provides for the election of President by the observance 
of the following forms : — 

1 . He must be a native-born citizen, or a citizen of the 
United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion, and must have attained the age of thirty-five years ; 
and, from the commencement of the government, so wisely 
was this requirement conceived, that no person under the 
age of forty years has filled the presidential chair. 

2. Congress may determine the time of choosing the 
electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, 
which day shall be the same throughout the United States. 

3. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the 
Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal 
to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to 
w r hich the State may be entitled in the Congress ; but no 
Senator, or Representative, or person holding an office of 
trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed 
an elector. The electors shall meet in their respective 
States, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of 
the same State with themselves ; they shall name in their 
ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct 
ballots the person voted for as Vice-President ; and they 
shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as Presi- 
dent, and all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of 
the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign 
and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat of the govern- 
ment of the United States, directed to the President of the 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 75 

Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the pres- 
ence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all 
the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted ; the 
person having the greatest number of votes for President 
shall be the President, if such number be a majority of 
the whole number of electors appointed ; and if no per- 
son have such majority, then, from the persons having the 
highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those 
voted for as President, the. House of Representatives shall 
choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in 
choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, 
the representation from each State having one vote ; a 
quorum for this purpose, to consist of a member or 
members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of 
all the States shall be necessary to a choice ; and if the 
House of Representatives shall not choose a President, 
whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, 
before the fourth day of March next following, then the 
Vice-President, elected by the Senate, shall act as Presi- 
dent, as in the case of the death or other constitutional 
disability of the President. The person having the great- 
est number of votes as Vice-President shall be the Vice- 
President, if such number be a majority of the whole 
number of electors appointed; and if no person have a 
majority, then, from the two highest numbers on the list, 
the Senate shall choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for 
the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole num- 
ber of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall 
be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally 
ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to 
that of Vice-President of the United States. 

There are certain hours of every day, except the days 



76 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

of Cabinet meetings, usually from 1 1 until 1 o'clock, during 
which the President may properly be approached either 
upon business or with the intention simply to pay him 
respect. 

Inauguration of the President. — The Constitution of 
the United States prescribes no form for the installation 
of the Chief Executive into the duties of his office : it only 
requires of him that, before he enters on the execution 
of his duties, he shall take the following oath or affirma- 
tion : " I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faith- 
fully execute the office of President of the United States, 
and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and 
defend the Constitution of the United States." There is 
no lasv specifying where this oath or affirmation shall be 
taken, and it would be equally valid if attested by a vil- 
lage magistrate or the Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States. Each incumbent of the office, 
therefore, has been governed by the dictates of his own 
fancy or judgment in the ceremonies attending his in- 
duction. 

Thus, when George Washington was first inaugurated 
President, on the 1st of May, 1789, he was escorted from his 
house to the city hall, where the custom-house has since 
fceen erected, in Wall street, New York, and the oath of 
office was administered to him by Chancellor Livingston. 
After his re-election, in 1793, delegations from the Senate 
and House of Representatives, with other dignitaries, 
assembled in the Senate chamber to witness the renewal 
of General Washington's oath. John Adams, in 1797, 
informed the Senate and House of Representatives of his 
election to the office of President of the United States, 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 77 



and of his readiness to take the constitutional oath. On 
the 4th of March, at noon, he took his seat in the chair of 
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and, after 
delivering an inaugural address, took the oath of office 
and retired. On the 2d of March, 1801, Thomas Jeffer- 
son informed the Speaker of the House of Representatives 
of his intention to take the oath of office in the Senate 
chamber, on the 4th day of the same month, at noon. 
He also delivered an inaugural address, and was the first 
President whose inauguration took place in Washington. 
Upon the re-election of Jefferson, he omitted the address, 
and assumed his oath in the presence of Chief Justice 
Marshall and Justices Cushing, Patterson, and Washing- 
ton, of the Supreme Court ; and it is stated that amongst 
the distinguished witnesses was the gallant Commodore 
Preble. On the 4th of March, 1809, James Madison, who 
had been Secretary of State during the two terms of Jef- 
ferson's administration, took the oath of office, after deliv- 
ering his inaugural address, in the chamber of the House 
of Representatives. Having been re-elected, he appeared 
at the Capitol on the 4th of March, 1813, and, after deliv- 
ering his second inaugural address, he was sworn into 
office by Chief Justice Marshall. The first time that a 
public address, outside the Capitol, was delivered, was 
when, in 1817, James Monroe was inducted into the 
presidential honors andresponsibilities. On that occasion 
the Vice-President was first sworn in ; the President then, 
from an elevated platform, pronounced his inaugural ad- 
dress, took the oath in the presence of the Chief Justice 
of the Supreme Court, and, after a salute of artillery, re- 
tired to the Executive Mansion. On the 4th of March, 
1821, President Monroe having been re-elected, could not 



78 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

be sworn into office, — that date happening to fall upon 
Sunday, dies non in law. On the following day, however — 
Monday, the 5th of March, a very inclement day — the 
oath was again administered by Chief Justice Marshall. 
The next President was John Quincy Adams, who, at 
twenty minutes after 12 o'clock of the 4th day of March, 
1825, placed himself in the chair of the Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, and having delivered an ad- 
dress, which occupied about three quarters of an hour, 
he read, from a copy of the laws of the United States, 
handed to him by the Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court, the appointed obligation. This ceremony having 
been performed, he received the congratulations of those 
present, including General Andrew Jackson, and with 
proper formalities and an escort was conducted to the 
Executive Mansion. Andrew Jackson was inducted into 
the presidency on the 4th of March, 1829. The Vice- 
President, John C. Calhoun, having passed through the 
necessary preliminaries, assumed his seat as President of 
the Senate, at eleven o'clock of the above-named day. 
Precisely at twelve o'clock General Jackson commenced 
the delivery of his inaugural address, standing upon the 
eastern portico of the Capitol, and in presence of an im- 
mense concourse of people. At the conclusion of the 
discourse, Chief Justice Marshall administered the oath 
of office prescribed by the Constitution. Jackson was 
again installed President of the United States on the 4th 
of March, 1833, — Martin Van Buren having been chosen 
by the people for Vice-President. On this occasion Jack- 
son delivered an address and took the oath of office in 
the hall of the House of Representatives. Martin Van 
Buren, having served during four years as the Vice-Pres- 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 79 

ident under Jackson, was, on the 4th of March, 1837, 
inducted into the presidential office. The Vice-Presi- 
dent was sworn into his office, and, having made a brief 
speech, assumed his position as President of the Senate. 
At twelve o'clock Van Buren, accompanied by Jackson, 
repaired to the Senate chamber, and from thence to the 
east portico, where, the former having pronounced his 
address in the presence of an immense multitude, 
amongst whom Webster and Clay were conspicuous, the 
oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Taney. 
The remarkable episode in the political history of the 
United States, detailed in the records of 1840, resulted in 
the election of William H. Harrison, who was inaugurated 
into his office on Friday, the 4th of March, 1841. Gen- 
eral Harrison proceeded from his quarters to the Capitol, 
mounted upon a white charger, and surrounded by an 
enthusiastic throng of friends. In the Senate chamber, 
Mr. Tyler having taken the oath of Vice-President, de- 
livered an address. At twenty minutes after twelve 
General Harrison was ushered in, after which the assem- 
blage proceeded to the eastern portico, where the Presi- 
dent delivered the greater portion of his address, and, 
having received the obligation of office from the Chief 
Justice, finished his speech, and, under escort, took posses- 
sion of the Executive Mansion. 

The presidency of General Harrison, like that of 
Taylor, was of brief duration, for, on the 4th of April, 
1841, one month from the date of his installation, he 
died, and the duties and responsibilities of the position 
devolved upon the Vice-President, John Tyler, who, upon 
the 6th of April, appeared before the Chief Judge of the 
Circuit Court, and, for prudential reasons, assumed the 



80 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

presidential oath, — Judge Cranch recording the fact in the 
following form : — 

District of Columbia, ) 

r SS 

City and County of Washington. ) 

I, William Cranch, Chief Judge of the Circuit Court 
of the District of Columbia, certify that the above-named 
John Tyler personally appeared before me this day, and 
although he deems himself qualified to perform the duties 
and exercise the powers and office of President, on the 
death of W. H. Plarrison, late President of the United 
States, and without any other oath than that which he has 
taken as Vice-President, yet, as doubts may arise, and 
for greater caution, took and subscribed the foregoing 
before me. 

April 6, 1841. TV. CRANCH. 

President Tyler having served his term of office, was 
succeeded, in 1845, by James K. Polk, at whose inaugu- 
ration the " Empire Club," at that time an imposing 
political organization in the city of New York, occupied 
a very conspicuous place in the procession. Mr. Dallas, 
the Vice-President, having taken his oath, assumed the 
presidential chair of the Senate and delivered a brief 
inaugural, after which, Mr. Tyler and Mr. Polk having 
been ushered into the Senate chamber, the President 
elect, accompanied by his escort, proceeded to the eastern 
j)ortico, where, having read his address, Mr. Polk was 
sworn into office by the Chief Justice, after which the 
President held a levee at the Executive Mansion. In 
1848 Zachary Taylor was elected President of the United 
States, and Millard Fillmore Vice-President. The 4th 
of March again falling upon a Sunday, the inauguration 
was postponed until Monday, — so that in the history of 
the United States there have been two days when we 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVJEBNMENT. 81 

have had no President, and yet the wheels of government 
have observed their appointed revolutions. 

General Taylor, prior to his installation, had chosen 
Willards' hotel (since greatly enlarged) for his tempo- 
rary residence, and, from his lodgings there, was conducted 
to the Senate, where the obligation of office had been 
previously administered to the Vice-President elect. In 
a few minutes the Senate chamber was vacated, and the 
assemblage proceeded to the eastern portico of the Capi- 
tol, from which, like most of his predecessors, General 
Taylor pronounced an address, after which the oath of 
office was administered by Chief Justice Taney. 

President Taylor died July 9th, 1850, and, in accordance 
with the Constitution, Millard Fillmore became his suc- 
cessor. On Thursday, July 11th, 1850, Mr. Fillmore 
appeared before the House of Representatives, and having 
taken the presidential oath became the President of the 
United States, and filled that high position up to the 
4th of March, 1853, when he was succeeded by Franklin 
Pierce, who. from Willards' hotel, was accompanied by 
Mr, Fillmore, Hon. Jesse D. Bright and Hon. Hannibal 
Hamlin as a committee of Congress, and escorted by a 
company of U. S. flying artillery, a company of U. S. 
marines, and seventeen volunteer military companies. 
Arriving at the Capitol, Mr. Pierce took his oath of office 
on the east portico, and having delivered an address, 
without using manuscript, he went to the Executive 
Mansion where he held a public levee. James Bu- 
chanan was installed into his office March 4th, 1857. 
He was the fifteenth President of the United States ; and, 
like several of his predecessors, selected Willards' hotel 
for his temporary residence. From his lodgings he was 



82 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

escorted to the Senate chamber, in the Capitol, where the 
oath was administered to him by the Hon. James M. 
Mason, of Virginia, President pro le?n., after which, Mr. 
Breckinridge having made a short address, the whole 
assemblage proceeded to the east portico, from the plat- 
form of which Mr. Buchanan delivered his inaugural to 
an enthusiastic auditory. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln and 
Hannibal Hamlin were indicated, by the popular vote 
and the electoral college, as the proper persons for the 
respective offices of President and Vice-President during 
the succeeding term. The inauguration takes place March 
4th, 1861. 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 

To the student of American history there is no more 
interesting or encouraging field of research than is con- 
tained in the progressive development of the various 
executive departments of the government. At first the 
duties were fully discharged by one or two clerks, but in 
seventy years the same duties have so multiplied as to re- 
quire a small army of officials to perform them, and 
immense palaces for their accommodation. The build- 
ing devoted to the department now under consideration 
is situated on Fifteenth street ; it will soon be replaced 
by the magnificent structure which is known as the 
"Treasury Extension." The plans for this extension 
were designed by Mr. T. U. Walter, and were accepted 
by Congress. It was thought best to depart from a strict 
architectural uniformity with the old portion, and by an 
ingenious device the new building was so far isolated 
from the old as to give an opportunity for a correction of 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 83 

the defective details of the former edifice. When com- 
pleted, the building will be 465 feet long by 266 wide, 
with four fronts on as many streets ; and the interior 
space will be subdivided, by a centre building, into two 
courts, each 130 feet square. 

The history of the State Department of the United 
States commences in July, 1789, at which time the first 
Congress enacted a law entitled " An act for establishing 
an executive department of the government, to be de- 
nominated the Department of Foreign Affairs." By this 
law, an officer was to be appointed as Secretary for the 
Department of Foreign Affairs, whose duties were to be 
performed conformably to the instructions of the President, 
Before this, while the republic was struggling for the 
recognition of the great nations, its foreign affairs w T ere 
conducted through commissioners appointed by Congress. 
Shortly before the adoption of the Constitution, the neces- 
sity for some organization of our diplomatic correspon- 
dence led to the passage of a resolution of Congress 
authorizing the appointment of a Secretary of Foreign 
Affairs. His powers were derived from Congress, and he 
was required to hold himself amenable to that body, to 
attend its sessions, and to report and explain all matters 
pertaining to his province. In September, 1789, another 
act of Congress changed the designation of the department 
to that of " Department of State," and defined additional 
duties to be performed by the " Secretary of State." The 
rise and progress of American diplomacy, as exhibited in 
its organization, furnishes a theme from which w r e turn 
with reluctance. But the following episode in its history, 
preserved in the comprehensive pages of Ingersoll's "His- 
torical Sketch of the Second War of the United States," is 



84 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

too creditable to the department and too honorable to its 
faithful servants to be omitted : — 

The day before the fall of Washington — a day of ex- 
treme alarm — on the 23d of August, 1814, the Secretary of 
State wrote to the President : " The enemy are advanced 
six miles on the road to the wood-yard, and our troops 
retreating ; our troops on the march to meet them, but in 
too small a body to engage; General Winder proposes to 
retire till he can collect them in a body. The enemy are 
in full march for Washington, and have the materials 
prepared to destroy the bridge. — Tuesday, nine o'clock. 
You had better remove the records." Before that note 
was received, Mr. John Graham, chief clerk in the De- 
partment of State, and. another clerk, Mr. Stephen Plea- 
santon, bestirred themselves to save the precious public 
records of that department. The clerk then in charge of 
most of those archives was Josiah King, who accompa- 
nied the government from Philadelphia to Washington. 
By the exertions of these clerks, principally Mr. Pleasan- 
ton, coarse linen bags were purchased, enough to contain 
the papers. The original Declaration of Independence, 
the articles of confederation, the federal Constitution, many 
treaties and laws as enrolled, General Washington's com- 
mission as commander-in-chief of the army of the Revo- 
lution, which he relinquished when he resigned it at 
Annapolis (found among the rubbish of a garret), together 
with many other papers, the loss of which would have 
deeply blackened our disgrace, and, deposited in the Tower 
at London, as much illustrated the British triumph — all 
were carefully secured in linen bags, hung round the room, 
ready, at a moment's warning, for removal to some place 
of safety. Wagons, carts, and vehicles of all sorts were 
in such demand for the army, whose officers took the right 
of seizing them, whenever necessary, to carry their bag- 
gage, provisions, and other conveniences, that it was 
difficult to procure one in which to load the documents. 
That done, however, Mr. Pleasanton took them to a mill, 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 85 

over the Potomac, about three miles beyond Georgetown, 
where they were concealed. But, as General Mason's 
cannon-foundry was not far from the mill, though on the 
Maryland side of the river, apprehension arose that the 
cannon-foundry, which the enemy would of course seek to 
destroy, might bring them too near the mill, and endan- 
ger its deposits. They were, therefore, removed as far 
as Leesburg, a small town in Virginia, thirty -five miles 
from Washington, whither Mr. Pleasanton, on horseback, 
accompanied the wagon during the battle of Bladensburg. 
From Leesburg, where he slept that night, the burning city 
was discernible, in whose blaze the fate of his charge, if left 
there, was told on the horizon. * * * * 

* * Mr. Pleasanton took them [the papers] 
in several carts to the mill, where the carts were dis- 
charged ; he slept at the Rev. Mr. Maffit's, two miles 
from the mill, and next morning got country wagons in 
which he, on horseback, attended the papers to Leesburg, 
where they were put in a vacant stone house prepared for 
him by the Rev. Mr. Littlejohn. That fearful night was 
followed by next day's tornado, which at Leesburg, as at 
Washington, uprooted trees, unroofed tenements, and 
everywhere around superadded tempestuous to belligerent 
destruction and alarm. 

Many of the records of the War, Treasury and Navy 
Departments were destroyed ; some were saved, less by 
any care than by the tempest which arrested hostile 
destruction before its completion, and drove the enemy 
from the capital. After their departure several of the 
written books of the departments were found in the mud, 
soaked with water from the rain which so opportunely 
fell, — which, by drying them in the sun and rebinding them, 
were recovered. Great numbers of books and papers, 
however, were irrecoverably lost. 

The organization of the Department of State embraces 

the Secretary of State, Assistant Secretary of State, Chief 

Clerk, Superintendent of Statistics, Translator, Librarian, 

and twenty-two clerks, who, for the svstematic discharge 
5 



SG WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

of their official duties, are divided into the following 
bureaus : — 

The Dijilomatic Branch, which has charge of all cor- 
respondence between the department and other diplo- 
matic agents of the United States abroad, and those of 
foreign powers accredited to this government. In it all 
diplomatic instructions sent from the department, and 
communications to commissioners under treaties of bound- 
aries, &c, are prepared, copied, and recorded ; and all of 
like character received are registered and filed, their con- 
tents being first entered in an analytic table or index. 

The Consular Branch, which has charge of the cor- 
respondence between the department and the consuls 
and commercial agents of the United States. In it instruc- 
tions to those officers, and answers to their dispatches, 
and to letters from other persons asking for consular 
agencies, or relating to consular affairs are prepared and 
recorded. 

The Disbursing Agent, who has charge of all corre- 
spondence and other matters connected with accounts 
relating to any fund with the disbursement of which the 
department is charged. 

The Translator, whose duties are to furnish such trans- 
lations as the department may require.- He also records 
the commissions of consuls and vice-consuls, when not in 
English, upon which exequaturs are issued. 

The Cleric of Appointments and Commissions makes 
out and records commissions, letters of appointment, and 
nominations to the Senate ; makes out and records exe- 
quaturs, and records, when in English, the commissions 
on which they are issued. He also has charge of the 
library. 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 87 

The Clerk of the Rolls and Archives takes charge of 
the rolls, or enrolled acts and resolutions of Congress, as 
they are received at the department from the President ; 
prepares the authenticated copies thereof which are called 
for ; prepares for, and superintends their publication, and 
that of treaties, in the newspapers and in book form ; 
attends to their distribution throughout the United States, 
and that of all documents and publications in regard to 
which this duty is assigned to the department, writing 
and answering all letters connected therewith. Has 
charge of all Indian treaties, and business relating thereto. 

The Clerk of Territorial Business has charge of the 
seals of the United States and of the department, and 
prepares and attaches certificates to papers presented for 
authentication ; has charge of the territorial business ; 
immigration and registered seamen; records all letters 
from the department, other than the diplomatic and con- 
sular. 

The Clerk of Pardons and Passports prepares and 
records pardons and remissions, and registers and files 
the petitions and papers on w^hich they are founded ; 
makes out and records passports ; keeps a daily register 
of all letters, other than diplomatic and consular, received, 
and of the disposition made of them ; prepares letters 
relating to this business. 

The Superintendent of Statistics prepares the "Annual 
Report of the Secretary of State and Foreign Commerce," 
as required by the acts of 1842 and 1856. 

The State Department is the official channel through 
which the government is addressed by the accredited 
agents of the following foreign powers : By Envoys Ex- 
traordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary, from Belgium, 



88 



WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 



Brazil, Costa Rica, Trance, Great Britain, Guatimala, 
Mexico, New Granada, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, and 
Spain; by Ministers Resident, from Austria, Bremen, 
Netherlands, Peru, Sweden, Denmark, Sardinia, and Swit- 
zerland. With two or three unimportant exceptions, the 
Foreign Ministers reside in Washington. 

The library contains a very fine collection of books, 
and, with the many important documents in the keeping 
of the department, is worthy of examination. 




TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 

In the first session of the first Congress, an act was 
passed, which was approved on the second day of Septem- 
ber, 1789, to " Establish the Treasury Department." By 
this legislation, a Secretary, Comptroller, Solicitor, Treas- 
urer, and Assistant Secretary were ordered to be ap- 
pointed. 

The walls of the Treasury extension, above the cellar, 
are : a basement story, forming a stylobate, and, resting 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 89 

on it, an ordonnance of antae, of the Ionic order, 45 feet in 
height. The stylobate is intended to be decidedly of 
a Grecian character ; its base, die, and cornice are beauti- 
ful in themselves, but as here brought together they have 
an effect peculiarly appropriate and pleasing. The win- 
dow openings in the die are managed so as to give them 
all the character needed, without loading them with orna- 
ment ; and the whole arrangement of sills and piers, and 
the continued cornice, which serves as a window cap, is 
entirely novel. The antse and the filling of the spaces 
between them are so arranged as to accomplish the very 
difficult combination of the adaptation of Grecian archi- 
tecture to modern uses, without spoiling its inherent 
beauties. The style of architecture is more fully pre- 
served, and its design carried out, by the use of single 
blocks for the columns and antse. The arrangement of 
the interior of the new building varies essentially from 
that of the old, and from public offices generally, in being 
divided into larger and more commodious rooms. In- 
stead of the narrow, cell-like apartments, with one, or at 
most two, windows, into which the public departments in 
Washington are generally subdivided, the Treasury ex- 
tension presents the novelty of spacious and airy saloons, 
capable of accommodating the following bureaus : — 

The Secretary's Office, which is charged with the gen- 
eral supervision of the fiscal transactions of the govern- 
ment, and of the execution of the laws concerning the 
commerce and navigation of the United States. He 
superintends the survey of the coast, the light-house estab- 
lishment, the marine hospitals of the United States, and 
the construction of certain public buildings for custom- 
houses and other purposes. 



90 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

The First Comptroller's Office prescribes the mode of 
keeping and rendering accounts for the civil and diplo- 
matic service, as well as the public lands, and revises and 
certifies the balances arising thereon. 

The Second Comptroller's Office prescribes the mode 
of keeping and rendering the accounts of the Army, Navy, 
\ and Indian Departments of the public service, and revises 
and certifies the balances arising thereon. 

The Office of Commissioner of Customs prescribes the 
mode of keeping and rendering the accounts of the cus- 
toms revenue and disbursements, and for the building 
and repairing custom-houses, &c, and revises and certifies 
the balances arising thereon. 

The First Auditor's Office receives and adjusts the 
accounts of the customs revenue and disbursements, ap- 
propriations and expenditures on account of the civil list 
and under private acts of Congress, and reports the bal- 
ances to the Commissioner of the Customs and the First 
Comptroller, respectively, for their decision thereon. 

The Second Auditor's Office receives and adjusts all 
accounts relating to the pay, clothing, and recruiting of 
the army, as well as armories, arsenals, and ordnance, 
and all accounts relating to the Indian bureau, and 
reports the balances to the Second Comptroller for his 
decision thereon. 

The Third Auditor's Office adjusts all accounts for 
subsistence of the army, fortifications, military academy, 
military roads, and the quartermaster's department, as 
well as for pensions, claims arising from military services 
previous to 1816, and for horses and other property lost 
in the military service, under various acts of Congress, 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 91 

and reports the balances to the Second Comptroller for 
his decision thereon. 

The Fourth Auditor's Office adjusts all accounts for the 
service of the Navy Department, and reports the balances 
to the Second Comptroller for his decision thereon. 

The Fifth Auditor's Office adjusts all accounts for 
diplomatic and similar services performed under the di- 
rection of the State Department, and reports the balances 
to the First Comptroller for his decision thereon. 

The Sixth Auditor's Office adjusts all accounts arising 
from the service of the Post Office Department. His 
decisions are final, unless an appeal be taken in twelve 
months to the First Comptroller. He superintends the 
collection of all debts due the Post Office Department, 
and all penalties and forfeitures imposed on postmasters 
and mail contractors for failing to do their duty ; he 
directs suits and legal proceedings, civil and criminal, 
and takes all such measures as may be authorized by law 
to enforce the prompt payment of moneys due to the 
department, — instructing United States attorneys, mar- 
shals, and clerks, on all matters relating thereto, — and re- 
ceives returns from each term of the United States courts 
of the condition and progress of such suits and legal 
proceedings ; has charge of all lands and other property 
assigned to the United States in payment of debts due 
the Post Office Department, and has power to sell and 
dispose of the same for the benefit of the United States. 

The Treasurer' s Office receives and keeps the moneys 
of the United States in his own office and that of the de- 
positories created by the act of August 6th, 1846, and 
pays out the same upon warrants drawn by the Secretary 
of the Treasury, countersigned by the First Comptroller, 
and upon warrants drawn by the Postmaster-General, 



92 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

and countersigned by the Sixth Auditor, and recorded by 
the Register. He also holds public moneys advanced by 
warrant to disbursing officers, and pays out the same 
upon their checks. 

The Registers Office keeps the accounts of public re- 
ceipts and expenditures ; receives the returns, and makes 
out the official statement of commerce and navigation of 
the United States ; and receives from the First Comp- 
troller and Commissioner of Customs all accounts and 
vouchers decided by them, and is charged by law with 
their safe keeping. 

The Solicitor's Office superintends all civil suits com- 
menced by the United States (except those arising in the 
Post Office Department), and instructs the United States' 
attorneys, marshals, and clerks, in all matters relating to 
them and their results. He receives returns from each 
term of the United States courts, showing the progress 
and condition of such suits ; has charge of all lands and 
other property assigned to the United States in payment 
of debts (except those assigned in payment of debts due 
the Post Office Department), and has power to sell and 
dispose of the same for the benefit of the United States. 

The Light-House Board, of which the Secretary of the 
Treasury is ex-officio president, but in the deliberations 
of which he has the assistance of naval, military, and 
scientific coadjutors. 

United States Coast Survey. The Superintendent, 
with numerous assistants employed in the office and upon 
the survey of the coast, are under the control of this 
department. A statement of their duties will be found 
in the next chapter. 

Being charged with the collection of the revenue, the 
semi-naval service known as the Revenue Service is very 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 



93 



properly placed in the control of this department, and is 
not identified with the United States Navy. 

Some idea of the magnitude and importance of this 
executive branch of the government may be formed by 
an examination of the following statement of the value 
of foreign merchandise imported, re-exported, and con- 
sumed annually, from 1821 to 1859, inclusive, and the 
estimated population and rate of consumption per capita 
during the same period : — 



Yeaks Ending— 



September 30, 1821 . 

1S22. 

1823. 

1324. 

1525. 

1826. 

182T. 

1828. 

1829. 

1830. 

1831. 

1832. 

1833. 

,1834. 

1835. 

1836. 

1837. 

1338. 

1839. 

1840. 

1841. 

1842. 
9 months to June 30, 1843 



Value of Foreign Merchandise. 



Imported 



$62,585,724 
83,241.541 
77,579 26T 
80,549,007 
96,340,1-75 
84,974,477 
79,434,C6S 



Consumed 
Re-expor- and 
tt-d. I on hand. 



Papula- 
tion. 



II 



$21302,488 
22,2^6,202 
27.543,622 
25,337,157 
32,590 643 
24539 612 
23,403,136 



88,509,824! 21,595,017 

74.492,5271 16,658,478 

70.876.920 14,3S7,479 

1 03,191, 124J 20.033,526 

101,029.266, 24,039 473 



Year to June 30, 



1844, 
1345 
1846. 

1847. 
1848. 
1349. 
1S50, 
1551. 
1852. 
1353. 
1851. 
1855. 
1856. 
1357. 
1853. 
1859, 



!108,11S,311 
226,521332 
149,895,742 
!1S9,9S0,035 
1140,989 217 
1113,717,404 
|162,092.132 
107,141:519 
1127,946,177 
10i).162,0S7 
64.75^,799 
108,435,035 
117.254,564 
121,691,797 
146.545,638 
154J99S 923, 
147,857,439! 
118,138,318 
216,224 932 
212,945.442 
267,978,647 
304,562.381 
261.46-.520 
i 31 4,639 942 
I360.S9 '.141 
2S2.613.150 
838,768.180 



19 S22J35 
23,312,811 
20,504,495 
21,746,860 
21,854.962 
12,452,795 
17,494525 
18,190 312 
15,469.081 
11,721.538 

6,552.697 
ll.4S4.867 
1 5.346, S30 
11.316,623 

8,011.158 
21,128<10 
13.0-8,865 
14.951.808 
2l.69S,293 
17.289,382 
l7.55S,4r.0 
24,850,1 9 i 
28.448.298 
16,^75 578 
23,975.617 
80,886,142 
20,895.n77 



$41.2S3,236 

60.955.339 

50.035,645 

55.211,850 

63,749,432 

60,434,865 

56,080,932 

; 66,914 S07 

57,834,049 

I 56,489,441 

63,157.593 

76.989,793 

88 295 576 

103,2' 8.521 

129,391,247 

168,233,675 

119,134.255 

lol,264.609 

144.597,607 

83.951.207 

112 47 7.096 

88 440549 

I 58 201,102 

i 96,950, 16S 

lol 907.734 

110 345,174 

138,534,480 

133 870.918 

134,768,574 

163,186 510 

194,526,639 

195,656,060 

250.420.157 

279.7 2 187 

233 020,227 

298 261.864 

336.914,524 

251,727,008 

317.873.0f3 



9.960.974 $4 14 
10,2S3,757: 5 92 
10,606,540 
10,929 323 

11 252,1< 6 
11.574 8S9 
11897,672 
12,220,455 
12,243.238 

12 566,020 

13 286.? 64 
18,706.707 
14.127,050 
14.547,893 
14,967,736 
15,888,079 

15 808,422 
16,225,765 

16 649.108 
17,069.453 
17,612^507 
18.155.561 
18.69a 615 
19.241,670 
19,784,725 
20,327,780 
20,780 835 
21,41 3.S1.0 
21.956.945 
23.246,301 
24,250,000 
24,5"0,00o 
25.0( 0,' 00 
25 750.00" 



71 
05 
66 
22 
71 
47 
4 61 

4 39 

6 25 

5 61 

6 25 

7 09 

8 64 
10 93 

7 53 
G 23 

8 63 
5 21 



85 
87 
11 
03 
15 
42 
6 CO 
6 25 

6 13 

7 02 

8 02 
8<0 

10 00 
10 00 



26,500,000 
27.400,000 
28.500,000 
29 500,(00 
80,385.000 



8 79 

10 83 

11 82 
8 50 

10 46 



94 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 



DEPARTMENT OF WAR. 



The exigencies to which the colonies were exposed 
forced them at an earl y period to concentrate their defens- 
ive power. The military successes of Washington and his 
generals were greatly retarded by the cumbersome ar- 
rangements of direct correspondence with and instructions 
from Congress, in which parties and cliques were frequently 
stronger than patriotism ; the frozen and bleeding feet of 
revolutionary soldiers, as at Valley Forge, being some- 
times counted of less consequence than the interest of 
controlling votes. The first recorded legislation of im- 
portance upon the military affairs of the nation is the act 
of Congress of the twenty-seventh day of January, 1785, 
entitled " An Ordinance for ascertaining the Powers and 
Duties of the Secretary at War." By this Act the duties 
of the Secretary are denned ; and amongst them is a pro- 
vision requiring him to visit " at least once a year," " all the 
magazines and deposits of public stores, and report the state 
of them, with proper arrangements, to Congress." Immedi- 
ately after the confederation of the States by the adoption 
of the Constitution, this legislation was superseded by an 
act of Congress, approved on the seventh day of August, 
1789, denning the. duties of the department ; which was 
again modified by the fifth Congress, in the act of the 
thirtieth day of April, 1798: "To establish an Exec- 
utive Department, to be denominated the Department 
of the Navy." Of the efficiency of this department, and 
its services to the republic, there can be no better 
testimony than that which has been extorted from his- 
tory, in the following words : " The United States, from 
the peace of Independence, in 1783, achieved by war and 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 95 

merely acknowledged by treaty, have always (?) lost by 
treaty, but never by war." This sentiment, which is not 
as true now of our relations with Great Britain as in 1814, 
contains within it a compliment to the department which, 
with limited means, and encountering the natural jealousy 
of civism, has so administered its scanty finances that the 
army has been made not only a defense for the frontiers, 
but a recognized national force, able in any emergency to 
afford a nucleus around which the strength and bravery 
of the republic may safely crystallize. By the act of 
the fourteenth of April, 1814, the Secretaries of War and 
of the Navy were placed in custody of the flags, trophies of 
war, &c, to deliver the same for presentation and display 
in such public places as the President may deem proper. 
Although many trophies which a monarchical power would 
have jealously preserved have been lost, or at least de- 
tached from their proper resting-place, there are still 
enough in both departments to stir the patriotic emotions 
of all who take the trouble to inquire for them. The 
building in which the duties of this important branch of 
the government are performed is situated on Pennsylva- 
nia avenue, west of the Executive Mansion, and will in a 
few years be replaced by an edifice worthy of description. 
The present organization of the department is divided 
amongst the following bureaus : — 

Secretary's Office. — The Secretary of War is charged, 
under the direction of the President, with the general 
control of the military establishment, and the execution of 
the laws relating thereto. The functions of the several 
bureaus are performed under his supervision and author- 
ity. In the duties of his immediate office he is assisted 
by a chief clerk, claims and disbursing clerk, requisition 



96 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

clerk, corresponding clerk, registering clerk, and three 
recording clerks. 

The Adjutant- General* s Office is the medium of com- 
munication to the army of all general and special orders 
of the Secretary of War relating to matters of military 
detail. The rolls of the army and the records of service 
are kept, and all military commissions prepared, in this 
office. 

The Quartermaster- General' s Office has charge of all 
matters pertaining to barracks and quarters for the troops, 
transportation, camp and garrison equipage, clothing, fuel, 
forage, and the incidental expenses of the military estab- 
lishment. 

The Commissary- General* s Office has charge of all 
matters relating to the procurement and issue of subsist- 
ence stores to the army. 

The Paymaster- General s Office has the general direc- 
tion of matters relating to the pay of the army. 

The Surgeon- Generals Office has charge of all matters 
relating to the medical and hospital service. 

The Engineer's Office, at the head of which is the chief 
engineer of the army, has charge of all matters relating to 
the construction or the fortifications, and to the military 
academy. At present the Washington Aqueduct is being 
built under its direction. 

The Bureau of Topographical Engineers, at the head 
of which is the chief of the corps, has charge of all matters 
relating to river and harbor improvements, the survey of 
the lakes, the construction of military roads, and generally 
of all military surveys. 

The Ordnance Bureau, at the head of which is the 
chief of ordnance, has charge of all matters relating to the 



DEPARTMENTS OE THE GOVERNMENT 97 

manufacture, purchase, storage, and issue of all ordnance, 
arms, and munitions of war. The management of the 
arsenals and armories is conducted under its orders. 

Exclusive of the office of the Commanding Gen- 
eral, there are ninety-five persons, military and clerical, 
employed in the business of the department. 

Between this building and the Navy Department, which 
is directly to the south of it, there is a large mass of 
copper from Ontonagon, Lake Superior. This curiosity 
cost the United States $5,654. It was originally used by 
the Indians as a sacrificial rock, and they regarded it with 
a peculiar awe and veneration, in the belief that if seen 
by a white man, the control of the country would pass 
out of their hands. The following thrilling description of 
a human sacrifice once offered on this block of copper, is 
from the pen of Father Charlevoix, a Jesuit missionary : 

In my first voyage to the country, I had heard of the 
Manitou of the savages, which was of pure copper, and 
used as a place of sacrifice. * * * * * I listened 
with horror to the circumstances that attended the sacri- 
fice of a young female, who had been taken prisoner 
during an excursion of a war-party of the natives. 

An expedition had been resolved upon, and they thus 
thought to insure success and the favor of their powerful 
Manitou. The young maiden was only fifteen years 
old. After having a lodge appointed for her use, attend- 
ants to meet every wish, her neck, arms, and ankles cov- 
ered with bracelets of silver and copper, she was led 
to believe she was to be the bride of the son of the head 
chief. The time appointed was the end of winter ; and 
she felt rejoiced as the time rolled on, waiting for the 
season of her happiness. 

The day fixed upon for the sacrifice having dawned, 
she passed through all the preparatory ceremonies, and 



98 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

was dressed in her best attire, covered with all the orna- 
ments the settlement could command ; after which she 
was placed in the midst of a circle of warriors dressed 
in their war suits, who seemed to escort her for the pur- 
pose of showing her deference. Besides their usual arms, 
each one carried several pieces of wood which he had re- 
ceived from the girL She had carried wood to the rock 
on the preceding day which she had helped gather in the 
forest. Believing she was to be elevated to a high rank, 
her ideas being of the most pleasing character, the poor 
girl advanced to the altar with rapturous feelings of joy 
and timidity, which would naturally be raised in the 
bosom of a young female of her age. As the procession 
proceeded, which occupied some time, savage music ac- 
companied them, and chaunts invoking the intervention 
of their Manitou, that the Great Spirit would prosper 
their enterprise ; so that, being excited by the music and 
dancing, the deceitful delusion under which she had been 
kept remained till the last moment. But as soon as they 
had reached the place of sacrifice, where nothing was to 
be seen but fires, torches, and instruments of torture, her 
eyes were opened — her fate was revealed to her — and she 
became aware of her horrible destiny, as she had often 
heard of the mysterious sacrifices of the Copper Rock. 

She conjured the stern warriors who surrounded her 
to have pity on her youth, her innocence, but all in vain ; 
the Indian priests coolly proceeded with the horrid cere- 
monies. * * * She was tied with withes to the top 
of the rock. The fire was gradually applied to her body 
with torches made of the wood which she had with her 
own hands distributed to the warriors. When exhausted 
with her cries, and about expiring, her tormentors opened 
the circle that surrounded her, and the great chief shot 
an arrow into her heart, which was followed by the spears 
and arrows of his followers, which, after being turned 
and twisted in the wounds, were torn from her body in 
such a manner that it presented but one shapeless mass 
of human flesh, and the blood poured down the glisten- 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 99 

ing sides of the rock in streams. When the blood had 
ceased to flow, the high priest approached the body of 
the victim, and, to crown the horrible deed, tore out her 
heart, and afte-r invoking the blessing of the bloody Man- 
itou, devoured the bleeding flesh, amid the acclamations 
of the whole tribe. The mangled remains were then left 
to be destroyed by wild beasts. Their weapons were 
sprinkled with her blood to render them invincible, and 
all retired to their cabins cheered and encouraged with 
the hope of a glorious victory. 



NAVY DEPARTMENT. 

This department of the government, as we have 
intimated above, is the child of the War Department. 
The first intention of the fathers of the American 
Republic seems to have been simply to provide for 
a chief clerk under whose direction contracts might 
be made for munitions of war, and the inspection of 
provisions necessary for carrying on war by land or 
sea. As the maritime warfare of the United States in- 
creased in the brilliancy of its victories, the necessity for 
a separate organization to control its officers and to pro- 
vide for the feeding, equipment, and payment of its sea- 
faring warriors gradually became apparent ; but it was 
not until the thirtieth day of April,* 1798, that Congress 
was sufficiently apprised of this necessity to pass and 
secure the approval of an act " to establish an Execu- 
tive Department, to be denominated the Department of 
the Navy," and on the twenty-second of June of the same 
year an act was passed granting the franking privilege 
to the Secretary of the Navy. Subsequent legislation has 
dealt more with the morale of the navy than with the 
functions of the department ; reference to various other 



L.ofC. 



100 AVASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

acts is therefore omitted. The building in which the 
duties of the department are at present discharged is im- 
mediately behind the War Department, and its architec- 
ture is so manifestly faulty and meagre that we defer a 
description until it shall have a dwelling-place to some 
extent commensurate with the important interests it con- 
trols and represents. As organized in I860, the depart- 
ment consists of the following officials : — The Secretary ; 
Chief Clerk ; Bureau of Navy Yards and Docks ; Bureau 
of Construction, Equipment, and Repairs ; Bureau of Pro- 
visions and Clothing ; Bureau of Ordnance and Hydro- 
graphy ; and the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery ; 
comprising in all, including the head of the department, 
and exclusive of messengers, forty-nine persons. The 
division of labor is as follows : — 

Secretary' s Office. — The Secretary has charge of every- 
thing connected with the naval establishment, and the 
execution of all laws relating thereto is intrusted to him, 
under the general direction of the President of the United 
States, who, by the Constitution, is commander-in-chief 
of the army and navy. All instructions to commanders 
of squadrons and commanders of vessels, all orders of 
officers, commissions of officers both in the navy and 
marine corps, appointments of commissioned and warrant 
officers, orders for the enlistment and discharge of sea- 
men, emanate from the Secretary's office. All the duties 
of the different bureaus are performed under the authority 
of the Secretary, and their orders are considered as ema- 
nating from him. The general superintendence of the 
marine corps forms also a part of the duties of the Secre- 
tary, and all the orders of the commandant of that corps 
should be approved by him. 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 101 

Bureau of Navy Yards and Docks, — Chief of the bu- 
reau, four clerks, one civil engineer, and one draughts- 
man. All the navy yards, docks, and wharves, buildings 
and machinery in navy yards, and everything immediately 
connected with them, are under the superintendence of 
this bureau. It is also charged with the management of 
the Naval Asylum. 

Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repair. — 
Chief of the bureau, eight clerks and one draughtsman. 
The office of the Engineer-in-chief of the Navy, who is as- 
sisted by three assistant engineers, is attached to this 
bureau. This bureau has charge of the building and repairs 
of all vessels of war, purchase of materials, and the provid- 
ing of all vessels with their equipments, as sails, anchors, 
water-tanks, &c. The Engineer-in-chief superintends the 
construction of all marine steam-engines for the navy, and, 
with the approval of the Secretary, decides upon plans for 
their construction. 

Bureau of Provisions and Clothing. — Chief of bureau 
and four clerks. All provisions for the use of the navy, 
and clothing, together with the making of contracts for 
furnishing the same, come under the charge of this 
bureau. 

Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography. — Chief of bu- 
reau, four clerks, and one draughtsman. This bureau 
has charge of all ordnance and ordnance stores, the man- 
ufacture or purchase of cannon, guns, powder, shot, shells, 
&c, and the equipment of vessels of war, with everything 
connected therewith. It also provides them with maps, 
charts, chronometers, barometers, &c, together with such 
books as are furnished to ships of war. " The United 
States Naval Observatory and Hydrographical Office " at 



102 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

Washington, and the Naval Academy at Annapolis, are 
also under the general superintendence of the chief of this 
bureau. 

Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. — Chief of bureau, 
one passed assistant surgeon United States Navy, and 
two clerks. Everything relating to medicines and medi- 
cal stores, treatment of sick and wounded, and manage- 
ment of hospitals, comes within the superintendence of 
this bureau. 

The following statistics may be interesting to some 
of our readers : In 1806, the number of seamen au- 
thorized by law was 925, to which number 3,600 were 
added in 1809. In 1812, Congress authorized the Presi- 
dent to employ as many as would be necessary to equip 
the vessels to be put in service, and to build as many 
vessels for the lakes as the public service required. In 
January, 1814, there were in actual service seven frigates, 
two corvettes, seven sloops of war, two blockships, four 
brigs, and three schooners, for sea, besides the several 
lake squadrons, gunboats, and harbor barges ; three ships 
of the line and three frigates on the stocks. The whole 
number of men and officers employed was thirteen thou- 
sand, three hundred and thirty-nine, of which 3,729 were 
able seamen, and 6,721 ordinary; the marine corps, as 
enlarged in 1814, was 2,700 men and officers. The com- 
missioned naval officers combatant were 22 captains, 18 
commanders, 107 lieutenants, and 450 midshipmen. In 
1814, Secretary Jones reported to the Senate that there 
were three 74-gun and three 44-gun ships building ; six 
new sloops of war built ; twenty barges and one hundred 
and twenty-five gunboats employed in the Atlantic waters ; 
33 vessels of all sizes for sea, afloat or building, and 31 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 



103 



on the lakes. Even in 1813, the energy of this depart- 
ment had led the first Napoleon to issue the following in- 
structions to his Minister of Marine : 

k -J " T^ r , eCeive £ decree h y which 1 or der the 
building at Toulon, at Roehefort, and at Cherbourg, of a 
frigate of American construction. I am certain that the 
English have had built a considerable number of frio-ates 
on that model. They go better, and they adopt them ; 
we must not be behindhand. Those which you will have 
built at Toulon, at Roehefort, and at Cherbourg, will ma- 
noeuvre in the roads, and give us to understand what to 
think of the model. 




PATENT OFFICE AND DEPARTMENT OF THE 

INTERIOR. 

We have been compelled to adopt the illogical desig- 
nation abdt-e given for this portion of the chapter, by rea- 
son of the fact that the Department of the Interior has no 
title to its present quarters in the building belonging to 
and mostly paid for by the earnings of the Patent Office. 
At first a single room was demanded for the Secretary of 



104 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

the Interior, and from that the department has continued 
to annex room after room of the noble building devoted 
to the protection of the inventive genius of the country, 
until the bureau for whose especial accommodation the 
edifice was erected finds itself "cabined and confined" 
in a corner of the house built with the proceeds of its own 
industry. The lawful fees charged for issuing patents 
having largely accumulated, were directed by Congress to 
be invested, with an additional appropriation, in the Patent 
Office building. From this commencement, the stately 
marble palace on the corner of Seventh and F streets has 
gradually been reared into its present magnificent propor- 
tions^ the principal architectural credit being due to Mr. 
Edward Clark. The building is in the Doric style of archi- 
tecture, 406|- feet by 275, and 74 feet 1 1 inches in height, 
divided into three stories of rooms, including the model- 
room, which occupies the whole upper floor, making in 
reality four saloons, in beauty unequaled by any apart- 
ment in the world, the total length of the connected cham- 
bers being upwards of 1,300 feet. 

In the court-yard are two fountains, which cool the air 
in the sultry days of summer. The north front is the 
only one which has not a portico, and as it would only 
involve an expense of $75,000 to finish it in the same 
style with the other fronts, it is to be hoped that Congress 
will not withhold that sum, especially as the cost of the 
building would still be within the original estimate. 

The Department of the Interior proper, consists of 
the Secretary, chief clerk, three disbursing clerks, and 
twelve other regular clerks ; and to its supervision and 
management are committed the following branches of the 
public service : — 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 105 

Public Lands. — The chief of this bureau is called 
the Commissioner of the General Land Office. The land 
lureau is charged with the survey, management, and sale 
of the public domain, and the issuing of titles therefor, 
whether derived from confirmations of grants made by 
former governments, by sales, donations, grants for 
schools, military bounties, or public improvements ; and 
likewise the revision of Virginia military bounty-land 
claims, and the issuing of script in lieu thereof. The land 
office also audits its own accounts. Its principal officers 
are a recorder, chief clerk, who also acts as Commissioner 
ad interim, principal clerk of surveys, a draughtsman, 
assistant draughtsman, and about one hundred and fifty 
clerks of various grades. 

Pensions. — The Commissioner is charged with the ex- 
amination and adjudication of all claims arising under the 
various laws passed by Congress granting bounty land 
or pensions for military or naval services in the revolu- 
tionary and subsequent wars in which the United States 
have been engaged. The Commissioner has one chief 
clerk, and a permanent corps consisting of seventy other 
clerks. About a million of dollars are annually disbursed 
by this bureau. 

'Indian Affairs, — This office has charge of all mat- 
ters relating to the Aborigines, and is conducted by a Com- 
missioner, chief clerk, and a clerical force from fifteen 
to thirty in number. The average annual expenditure 
on Indian account, including the interest on stocks held 
in trust for the several tribes, and on sums which, by 
treaty provision, it was stipulated should be invested, 



106 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

but which have remained in the treasury of the United 
States, is over $3,000,000 The amount of stock held in 
trust for Indian tribes by the Department of the Interior 
is $3,449,241 82, and the net annual interest thereon is 
$202,002 89. The present liabilities of the United States 
to Indian tribes, funding at five per cent, the perpetual 
annuities secured to some of them by treaty and also the 
annuities payable during the pleasure of Congress, amount 
to $21,472,423 88. This amount is made up of the fol- 
lowing items, viz. : 

Principal, at five per cent., of permanent annuities, 
guaranteed by treaty, including amounts which 
it is stipulated by treaty shall be invested, but 
which are retained in the Treasury, and on which 
the United States pay interest $7,013,087 80 

Temporary annuities guaranteed by treaty, all of 

which will cease in a limited period 13,295,936 08 

Principal, at five per cent., of temporary annuities, 
payable during the pleasure of the President or 
of Congress 1,163,400 00 

$21,472,423 88 

The Patent Office not only supports itself, but gradu- 
ally accumulates a fund which will compensate for the 
construction of its magnificent building, without taxing the 
people. Its funds are derived from services rendered. It is 
intrusted with the special duty of granting letters patent, 
securing a proper compensation to him who discovers or 
invents that which benefits his fellow-men. This is not 
in the nature of a monopoly, as has been sometimes sug- 
gested, for the government requires only the estimated 
cost of investigation and registry. The bureau of Patents, 
as the organ of the United States, virtually says to the 



DEPARTMENTS OK THE GOVERNMENT. 



107 



ingenuity and intelligence of the world : " If you can 
devise a simpler mode of performing any sort of labor, 
you shall receive a recompense in proportion to the ben- 
efit you confer upon those who ought to pay you." The 
table below will show the receipts a,nd expenditures of 
this branch of the government from 1837 (the earliest 
period at which we have been able to obtain reliable 
statistics) to 1860 : 





Applica- 


Caveats 


Patents 






Years. 


tions filed 


filed. 


issued. 


Cash received. 


Cash expended. 


1837 






435 


$29,289 08 


$33,506 98 


1838 






520 


42,123 54 


37,402 10 


1839 






425 


37,260 00 


34,543 51 


1840 






473 
495 
517 


38,056 51 
40,413 01 
36,505 68 


39,020 67 


1841 






52,666 87 


1842 


"761 


291 


31,241 48 


1843 


819 


315 


531 


35,315 81 


30,776 96 


1844 


1,045 


380 


502 


42,509 26 


36,344 73 


1845 


1,246 


452 


502 


51,076 14 


39,395 65 


1846 


1,272 


448 


619 


50,264 16 


46,158 71 


1847 


1,531 


533 


572 


63,111 19 


41,878 35 


1848 


1,628 


607 


660 


67,576 69 


58,905 84 


1849 


1,955 


595 


1,070 


80,752 78 


77,716 44 


1850 


2,193 


602 


995 


86,927 05 


80,100 95 


1851 


2,258 


700 


869 


95,738 61 


86,916 93 


1852 


2,639 


996 


1,020 


112,056 34 


95,916 91 


1853 


2,673 


901 


958 


121,527 45 


132,869 83 


1854 


3,324 


868 


1,902 


163,789 84 


167,146 32 


1855 


4,435 


906 


2,024 


216459 35 


179,540 33 


1856 


4,960 


1,024 


2,502 


192,588 02 


199,931 02 


1857 


4,771 


1,010 


2,910 


196,132 01 


211,582 09 


1858 


5,364 


943 


3,710 


203,716 16 


193,193 74 


1859 


6,225 


1,097 


4,538 


265,942 15 


210,278 41 


1860. ... 






4,819 


256,352 59 


252,820 80 











The whole number of patents issued by the office, 
from July, 1836, to Dec. 31st, 1860, was 31,004, than 
which fact we know of no more startling commentary 
upon the extraordinary development of the mechanical 



108 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

and mathematical powers of the American mind during 
the last quarter of a century. In Great Britain the 
issue of patents for inventions from March 2d, 1617 
(the date of the first Letters of Patent), to December 
31st, 1860, has been as follows : — 

1617, March 2, to Oct. 1, 1852 14,359 

Oct. 1, to Dec. 31, 1852 1,211 

1853 3,045 

1854 2,764 

1855 2,958 

1856 3,106 

1857 3,200 

1858 3,007 

1859 3,000 

1860 over 3,000 

To this bureau is committed the execution and per- 
formance of all acts and things touching and respect- 
ing the granting and issuing of patents for new and use- 
ful discoveries, inventions and improvements ; the collec- 
tion of statistics delating to agriculture ; the collection 
and distribution of seeds, plants, and cuttings. It has a 
chief clerk — who is by law the acting Commissioner of 
Patents in the absence of the Commissioner — twelve 
principal, twelve assistant, and several second-assistant 
examiners of patents. 

All books, maps, charts, and other publications here- 
tofore deposited in the Department of State, according 
to the laws regulating copyrights, go to the Department 
of the Interior, which is charged with all the duties con- 
nected with matters pertaining to copyright, which duties 
have been assigned by the Secretary of the Interior to 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 109 

the Patent Office, as belonging most appropriately to this 
branch of the service. 

The great national importance of its business requires 
that the Patent Office should cease to be a mere bureau of 
the Department of the Interior. In the language of the 
Hon. J. Thompson, when Secretary : " The increase of busi- 
ness in the Patent Office, and the magnitude of its oper- 
ations, give additional force to the recommendations 
heretofore made for a re-organization of this bureau. The 
amount of work devolved upon the examiners is enor- 
mous, and it is difficult to believe that the reiterated ap- 
peals in their behalf would have been so entirely disre- 
garded, had Congress realized the actual condition of the 
business of the office ; and as the office is self-sustaining, 
it is only reasonable that this department should be em- 
powered to graduate the force employed, by the work to 
be done, provided, always, that the expenditures shall be 
kept within the* receipts." 

The income of the office, for the three quarters ending 
September 30, 1860, was $197,648 40, and its expendi- 
ture, $189,672 23, showing a surplus of $7,976 17. 

During this period, five thousand six hundred and 
thirty-eight applications for patents were received, and 
eight hundred and forty-one caveats filed. Three thou- 
sand six hundred and twelve applications were rejected, 
and three thousand eight hundred and ninety-six patents 
issued, including re-issues, additional improvements, and 
designs. In addition to this, there were forty-nine appli- 
cations for extensions, and twenty-eight patents extended 
for a period of seven years from the expiration of their 
first term. 

It may not be out of place to suggest to persons hav- 
C 



110 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

in^ business to transact with the Patent Office, that the 
most certain, speedy and economical method they can 
pursue is to secure the services of a competent attorney, 
whose fee will be regulated by his professional standing ; 
in some cases, gentlemen distinguished by a peculiar ap- 
titude for the knotty questions which involve both legal 
and scientific training, receive very large sums for their 
services, but it must be borne in mind that it requires a 
long, patient, and peculiar discipline to prepare one either 
for an attorney or examiner of patents, of the latter of 
whom Judge Huntington is reported to have said that the 
duties were the most arduous of any performed by a pub- 
lic servant, and that a person qualified to discharge them 
was fitted to be a judge of the supreme court. 

The library of the Patent Office contains a collection 
of volumes of the highest scientific value ; under judi- 
cious arrangement, a collection already rich and ample is 
forming, of every work of interest to the inventors, and 
that new, increasing, important class of professional men, 
— the attorneys in patent cases. Upon its shelves may be 
found a complete set of the reports of the British Patent 
Commissioners, of which there are only six copies in the 
United States. The reports of French patents are also com- 
plete, and those of various other countries are being ob- 
tained as rapidly as possible. A system of exchanges has 
been established, which employs three agents abroad ; and, 
in addition to various and arduous duties, the librarian an- 
nually despatches several hundred copies of the reports. 

Besides these four principal branches of this executive 
department, the organic act of 1849 transferred to it from 
the Treasury department the supervision of the accounts 
of the United States marshals, and attorneys, and the 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. Ill 

clerks of the United States courts, the management of the 
lead and other mines of the United States, and the affairs 
of the Penitentiary of the United States in the District of 
Columbia ; and from the State department the duty of 
taking and returning the censuses of the United States, 
and of supervising and directing the acts of the Commis- 
sioner of Public Buildings. The Hospital for the Insane 
of the army and navy, and of the District of Columbia, 
is also under the management of this department ; in ad- 
dition to which the Secretary of the Interior is charged 
with the construction of the three wagon roads leading 
to the Pacific coast. 

Under the act of February 5, 1858, "providing for 
keeping and distributing all public documents," all the 
books, documents, &c, printed or purchased by the gov- 
ernment, the Annals of Congress, American State Pa- 
pers, American Archives, Jefferson's and Adams' Works, 
are transferred to this department from the State depart- 
ment, library of Congress, and elsewhere ; also the jour- 
nal and documents of the thirty-fifth Congress. These 
valuable works are distributed to those who are by law 
entitled to receive them, and to such " colleges, public 
libraries, atheneums, literary and scientific institutions, 
boards of trade, or public associations," as shall be desig- 
nated by the members of Congress. 

Census Bureau. — This important bureau is by law 
placed under control of the Interior department, and will 
probably become a permanent branch under the designa- 
tion of Bureau of Statistics. At present it is temporary 
in its organization, its force being disbanded when the 
work of each decade is concluded. The following table, 



112 



WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 



showing the expense incurred in taking the census at dif- 
ferent periods, will give some idea of the magnitude of 
the duties confided to this unobtrusive bureau : — 



DATE 


COST OF CENSUS. 


POPULATION. 


1790 


144,337 28 


3,929.827 


1800 


66,109 04 


5,305,925 


1810 


178,444 67 


7,239,814 


1820 


208,525 99 


9,638,131 


1830 


378,545 13 


12,866,020 


1840 


833,370 95 


17,069,453 


1850 


1,318,027 53 


23,191,876 


1860 


1,642,000 00 





The Agricultural Bureau, established for the purpose 
of diffusing information and distributing new varieties of 
plants and seeds, is much hampered in its operations by 
its relations with the department. Really needing to be- 
come a branch of the government distinct from all others 
and entirely beyond the fluctuations of political affairs, it 
is now confined within the limits the Secretary of the 
Interior may choose to indicate. Capable of becoming of 
immense national benefit, and already attracting the atten- 
tion of other nations, it is a pity its operations and organi- 
zation should be so restricted. 

The National Conservatories, under the direction of 
this bureau, are situated on the west side of Pennsylvania 
avenue, immediately west of the Capitol, where the 
soil, unfortunately, is not the most advantageous, being 
cold and wet. A recent agricultural report of the Patent 
Office, containing a vast amount of very valuable informa- 
tion concerning the garden and green-houses, with their 
contents, states that a system of underground tile-drain- 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 113 

age has been adopted, but, owing to the marshy character 
of the soil, only partial success has been attained. Re- 
ferring to the green-houses, it is authoritatively reported 
that the plan pursued in constructing and warming the 
green-houses, though successful in its present application, 
is not commended for all purposes. Decomposing vege- 
table matter, covered with a portion of nitrogenous ma- 
terials, might be adapted to general use, w T ere the process 
of decomposition susceptible of being controlled at will ; 
but so variable is its progress, and so dependent upon 
external influences, in a ratio inverse to the requirements 
within, that the vicissitudes of temperature proceeding 
from it are such as none but hardy plants can endure. 
The volatile emanations are likewise in excess in this 
process, insomuch that even those plants which become 
accustomed to and prove capable of sustaining an atmos- 
phere so highly stimulating may suffer when suddenly 
withdrawn from its influence and exposed to the open air. 
The partial exclusion of light and warmth of the sun, 
practiced in connection with this plan, also proves detri- 
mental to tender plants. 

A catalogue of the plants, prepared by Mr. W. R. 
Smith, an accomplished botanist, may be found in the 
Guide to the* Curiosities of the Patent Office. We will 
only add a few remarks about the tea-plant, of which there 
were procured 32,000 plants for distribution, of which, so 
rare was it in 1664, that the Dutch East India Company 
presented two pounds and two ounces of it to Charles II., 
King of England, w T hich country consumes annually about 
thirty millions of pounds, while the people of the United 
States submit to a voluntary tea tax of about eight millions 
*of dollars. The tea-plant is an evergreen, bearing a re- 



114 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

i 

semblance to the camelia, and in a wild state growing to 
the height of ten feet, and, when cultivated, dwarfed to 
three or four, by pinching off the leading shoots, to force 
it to throw out numerous little shoots from which to 
obtain leaves. The crop upon an acre of ground gener- 
ally averages as follows : — 3d year, 10 pounds; 4th year, 
30 pounds; 5th year, 80 pounds; 6th year> 120 pounds; 
7th year, 150 pounds ; 8th year, 200 pounds ; 9th year, 
250 pounds; 10th year, 300 pounds. For further inter- 
esting information respecting this and other valuable 
plants the reader is referred to the Patent Office Report on 
Agriculture for 1859. The public is greatly indebted to 
the Hon. J. A. Pearce, who has been the congressional 
fosterer of this useful and beautiful garden, and also to 
Capt. Wilkes and other gallant naval officers who have 
contributed to its riches. 



POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 

The progress of a country is so vitally dependent 
upon its postal facilities, and so well illustrated by the de- 
scription of the mail facilities afforded to the people at 
various periods of its history that we regret the limits 
allowed by the necessity of a hurried appearance before 
the public prevent our furnishing an essay upon the his- 
tory of the Post Office Department. As it is, we are 
compelled to say, in brief, that as early as the year 1692 
the English colonies in America were so impressed with 
the importance of postal facilities that the colony of Vir- 
ginia attempted to introduce a system of mail arrange- 
ments; a proposition was at that date introduced into 
the Assembly of Virginia to confer upon Mr. Neal the 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 115 

responsibilities of Postmaster-General of Virginia and 
other parts of America. The Assembly indorsed this pro- 
position by passing act establishing the office, but owing 
to the inchoate condition of public affairs it was never car- 
ried into effect. In 1710, by an act of the British Parlia- 
ment, a General Post Office for all Her Majesty's* domin- 
ions was established, and the Postmaster-General was per- 
mitted to have " one chief letter-office in New York, and 
other chief letter offices at some convenient place or places 
in each of Her Majesty's provinces or colonies in America." 
When the colonies resolved to demand their rights, they 
were careful at an early day to preserve the opportunities 
for epistolary communications between the citizens of the 
colonies. An act was early passed by the deputies from the 
colonies to secure this end. The Continental Congress 
provided with jealous care for the accomplishment of the 
same object, and with the confederation of the States, the 
Constitution adopted 17th September, 1787, reserved to 
Congress the right "to establish post offices and post 
roads." In 1789, Congress enacted a law providing for 
the appointment of a Postmaster-General and defining 
his duties. Other laws have been enacted since, from 
time to time, but the magnitude of the interests confided 
to this department is such that the Postmaster-General has 
become a Cabinet officer, and is not only required to regu- 
late the vast concerns of his department, but in addition 
to assist in the deliberations which decide the home and 
foreign policy of the Government. 

The Post Office building occupies the block situated 
on Seventh and Eighth streets west, and E and F streets 

* Queen Anne, of England. 



116 



WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 



north. In the centre of the edifice there is a court yard 
occupying the space of 95 feet by 194. The architecture 
is a modified Corinthian, and is the best representation of 
the Italian palatial ever erected upon this continent, re- 




POST OFFICE BUILDING 



fleeting the highest credit upon its designers, of whom we 
are compelled to say that T. U. Walter is, in our simple 
judgment, entitled to the highest meed of praise. By the 
recent enlargement, this building has been so extended as 
to develop the elegant proportions of its architectural 
lines, and were it in any other position but under the 
great shadow of .the magnificent Patent Office, it would be 
deemed a marvel of architectural beauty. On the Seventh- 
street side there is a vestibule, the ceiling of which is 
composed of richly ornamented marbles, supported by 
four marble columns ; the walls, niches, and floors, are also 
of marble, finely polished, the floor being richly tesselated. 
This is the grand entrance for the General Post Office 
department. The entrance for the mail wagons on Eighth 
street consists of a grand archway, the spandrils of which 
are ornamented with sculpture representing Steam and 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 117 

Electricity, while a mask representing Fidelity forms the 
key-stone. The F street front is arranged for the accom- 
modation of the city Post Office ; it has a deeply-recessed 
portico in the centre, consisting of eight columns grouped 
in pairs, and flanked by coupled pilasters, supporting an 
entablature which girds the entire work. The portico is 
supported by an arcade, which furnishes the most ample 
convenience for the delivery of letters to the public. The 
columns of this portico are each of them formed of a sin- 
gle block of marble, and are very beautiful both in design 
and execution. 

The Postmaster- General has assigned to him the di- 
rection and management of all postal affairs. That the 
business may be the more conveniently arranged and pre- 
pared for his final action, it is distributed among several 
bureaus, as follows : the Appointment Office, in charge of 
the First Assistant Postmaster-General ; the Contract Of- 
fice, in charge of the Second Assistant Postmaster-Gen- 
eral ; the Finance Office, in charge of the Third Assistant 
Postmaster-General ; and the Inspection Office, in charge 
of the Chief Clerk 

Appointment Office. — First Assistant Postmaster-Gen- 
eral, and nineteen clerks. To this office is assigned all 
questions which relate to the establishment and discon- 
tinuance of post-offices, changes of sites and names, ap- 
pointment and removal of postmasters, route and local 
agents ; as, also, the giving of instructions to post- 
masters ; postmasters are furnished with marking and 
rating stamps, and letter-balances by this bureau, which is 
charged also with providing blanks and stationery for the 
use of the department, and with the superintendence of 



118 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

the several agencies established for supplying postmasters 
with blanks. To this bureau is likewise assigned the su- 
pervision of the ocean mail steamship lines, and of the 
foreign and international postal arrangement. 

Contract Office. — Second Assistant Postmaster-Gen- 
eral, and twenty-six clerks. To this office is assigned the 
business of arranging the mail service of the United 
States, and placing the same under contract, embracing 
all correspondence and proceedings respecting the fre- 
quency of trips, mode of conveyance, and times of de- 
partures and arrivals on all the routes ; the course of the 
mails between the different sections of the country, the 
points of mail distribution, and the regulations of the 
government of the domestic mail service of the United 
States. It prepares the advertisements for mail propo- 
sals, receives the bids, and takes charge of the annual and 
occasional mail-letting, and the adjustment and execution 
of the contracts. All applications for the establishment 
or alteration of mail-messengers, should be sent to this 
office. All claims for transportation service not under 
contract should be submitted to it, as the recognition of 
said service is first to be obtained through the Contract 
Office as a necessary authority for the proper credits at the 
Auditor's Office. From this office all postmasters at the 
ends of routes receive the statement of the mail 
arrangement^ prescribed for fheir respective routes. It 
reports weekly to the Auditor all contracts executed, and 
all orders affecting accounts for mail transportation ; pre- 
pares the statistical exhibits of the mail service, and the 
reports of the mail-lettings, giving statement of each 
bid ; also, the contracts made, the new service originated, 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 119 

the curtailments ordered, and the additional allowances 
granted within the year. 

Finance Office. — Third Assistant Postmaster-General, 
and twenty-one clerks. This office has the supervision 
and management of the financial business of the de- 
partment, not devolved by law upon the Auditor, em- 
bracing accounts with the draft-offices and other de- 
positories of the department, the issuing of warrants 
and drafts in payment of balances reported by the Audi- 
tor to be due to mail contractors and other persons, the su- 
pervision of the accounts of offices under orders to deposit 
their quarterly balances at designated points, and the 
superintendence of the rendition by postmasters of their 
quarterly returns of postages. It has charge of the dead- 
letter office, of the issuing of postage-stamps and stamped 
envelopes for the prepayment of postage, and of the ac- 
counts connected therewith. 

To the Third Assistant Postmaster-General all post- 
masters should direct their quarterly returns of postage ; 
those at draft-offices, their letters reporting quarterly the 
net proceeds of their offices ; and those at depositing 
offices their certificates of deposit ; to him should also be 
directed the weekly and monthly returns of the deposito- 
ries of the department, as well as all applications and 
receipts for postage-stamps and stamped envelopes, and 
for dead letters. 

Inspection Office.— -Chief clerk, and seventeen clerks. 
To this office is assigned the duty of receiving and exam- 
ining the registers of the arrival and departures of the 
mails, certificates of the service of route agents, and re- 
ports of mail failures ; noting the delinquencies of con- 



120 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

tractors, and preparing cases thereon for the action of 
the Postmaster-General ; furnishing blanks for mail regis- 
ters and reports of mail failures ; providing and sending 
out mail bags and mail locks and keys, and doing all 
other things which may be necessary to secure a faithful 
and exact performance of all mail contracts. 

All cases of mail depredation, of violations of law by 
private expresses, or by the forging and illegal use of 
postage stamps, are under the supervision of this office, 
and should be reported to it. 

All communications respecting lost money-letters, 
mail depredations, or other violations of law, or mail 
locks and keys, should be directed " Chief Clerk, Post 
Office Department." 

All registers of the arrivals and departures of the 
mails, certificates of the service of route agents, reports 
of mail failures, applications for blank registers, and all 
complaints against contractors for irregular or imperfect 
service, should be directed " Inspection Office, Post Office 
Department." 



CHAPTER IY. 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 




THE CAPITOL, 

This magnificent edifice is situated upon the brow of 
the eastern plateau of the city, ninety feet above the low- 
tide level of the Potomac. Its commanding position was 
determined by Washington, as an imposing site, overlook- 
ing the city like the Acropolis at Athens. 

The building fronts the east, having been set by an 
astronomical observation by Andrew Ellicott ; and is sur- 
rounded by a beautiful park of thirty-five acres, adorned 
with a great variety of shade-trees, both indigenous and 
foreign. The Capitol stands in latitude 38° 55' 48" north, 



122 



WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 




and longitude 77° V 48" west from Greenwich. The cal- 
culation was made in 1821, by William Lambert, from 
observations by William Elliot, by authority of Con- 
gress. 

The design of the central portion, including the old 
wings, was presented 
by Dr. William Thorn- 
ton, and accepted by 
President Washington, 
according to act of Con- 
gress. The architec- 
ture is of the Corinthian 
order, though not limit- 
ed to any particular 
example, while some of the capitals of columns are orig- 
inal in design. The general features of the exterior of 
the entire building are in conformity, although the types 
of the order are quite varied in the interior, and the 
Doric order is employed in some instances in the basement. 

The corner-stone was laid, at the southeast corner of 
the north wing, by Washington, at twelve o'clock meri- 
dian, on Wednesday, September 18, 1793, with all the 
Masonic rites appropriate to the occasion. A grand Ma- 
sonic, military, and civic procession was formed on the 
square in front of the President's mansion, from whence 
it proceeded to the Capitol ground, with martial music 
and flying colors, attended by an immense concourse of 
rejoicing spectators. Arrived at the foundation of the 
Capitol, the Grand Sword Bearer, followed by the Presi- 
dent, marshaled the representatives of the Masonic frater- 
nity between the double lines of the procession, to the 
corner-stone. After a solemn pause, and the discharge of 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 123 

artillery, the Grand Marshal delivered to the Commission- 
ers of the District a large silver plate, bearing the follow- 
ing inscription, which was then read : — 

This southeast corner stone of the Capitol of the 
United States of America, in the city of Washington, was 
laid on the 18th day of September, 1793, in the thirteenth 
year of American Independence, in the first year of the 
second term of the Presidency of George Washington, 
whose virtues in the civil administration of his country 
have been so conspicuous and beneficial, as his military 
valor and prudence have been useful in establishing her 
liberties, and in the year of Masonry, 5793, by the Presi- 
dent of the United States, in concert with the Grand Lodge 
of Maryland, several lodges under its jurisdiction, and 
J^odge No. 22 from Alexandria, Virginia. 

Thomas Johnson, David Stuart, and Daniel Carroll, 
Commissioners; Joseph Clarke, R. W. G. M. P. T. ; 
James Hoban and Stephen Hallet, Architects; Collin 
Williamson, M. Mason. 

The artillery discharged another volley, when the plate 
was delivered to the President, who, attended by the 
Grand Master pro tern, and three Worshipful Masters, de- 
posited the plate on the corner-stone, upon which was 
placed corn, wine, and oil. The assembly joined in prayer, 
which was succeeded by the Masonic honors, and a volley 
from the artillery. An oration was then delivered by the 
Grand Master pro tern., and the ceremony was concluded 
by a prayer, Masonic honors, and fifteen rounds from the 
artillery. The assemblage retired to an extensive booth, 
where they enjoyed a barbecue feast, and the celebration 
was concluded with another salute of fifteen guns at sun- 
set. 

Under the successive superintendence of Stephen Hal- 
let, George Hadfield, and James Hoban, as architects, the 



121 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

north wing was made available for the first sitting of Con- 
gress in Washington, Nov. 17, 1800. In the meantime 
the walls of the south wing were carried up twenty feet 
and roofed over, for the temporary occupation of the 
House of Representatives. The House sat in this build- 
ing, which was styled " the oven," from 1802 until 1804, 
when the roof was removed for the completion of the 
wing, under the direction of B. H. Latrobe, while the 
House occupied the room of the Library of Congress, on 
the west side of the north wing, until the hall in the south 
wing was prepared for use, in 1808. 

The old Senate chamber was of but temporary con- 
struction, the columns and entablature being of wood 
stuccoed, and the capitals of plaster. The staircases were 
also of wood. On September 19, 1808, the centre of the 
vault of the old room of the Supreme Court was removed, 
when the arch gave way, carrying with it the floor of the 
Senate chamber, and killing John Lenthall, clerk of the 
works. It was the opinion of Mr. Latrobe that this acci- 
dent was occasioned by striking the centre of the arch too 
early. The damage to the building was immediately re- 
paired. 

The south wing was finished in 1811, the work having 
been much delayed by the embargo troubles of 1808 and 
1809. The finish of this wing was much more beautiful 
and substantial than that of the Senate chamber. The 
Hall of Representatives was semicircular, with a vaulted 
wooden ceiling ; the entablature was supported by twenty 
fluted Corinthian columns of sandstone ; the frieze over 
the Speaker's chair was ornamented by a figure of the 
American eagle, carved in sandstone, by Signor Franzoni ; 
the opposite frieze was also decorated with figures by the 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 125 

same artist, representing Agriculture, Commerce, Art, 
and Science. Behind the chair of the Speaker sat a figure 
of Liberty, with the eagle by her side, her right hand pre- 
senting the Constitution on a scroll, and the liberty-cap in 
her left, her feet resting upon a reversed crown and other 
symbols of monarchy and bondage. 

The sandstone of which the walls of the central portion 
of the Capitol are constructed, was procured from an island 
in Acquia Creek, in Virginia. The island was purchased by 
the Government, in 1791, for $6,000, for the use of the 
quarry. The two halls of Congress were connected by a 
temporary wooden structure, for convenience of communi- 
cation between the two legislative bodies. 

The interior of both wings was destroyed by fire when 
the British took the city, August 24, 1814, but the outer 
walls remained uninjured. Latrobe, who had resigned in 
1813, was reappointed, immediately after the fire, to re- 
construct the building. 

Congress sat, during the first session after the inva- 
sion, in the Post Office building, and ordered the Capitol 
to be rebuilt, by act of February 13, 1815 ; and on the 
8th of the following December, passed an act leasing a 
building situated on the eastern side of the Capitol park, 
and now known as the Old Capitol. Congress remained 
in that building until the Capitol was prepared for occu- 
pation. 

On the resignation of Latrobe, in December, 1817, he 
was succeeded by Charles Bulfinch, under whose superin- 
tendence the foundation of the main building was laid, 
March 24, 1818, and the original design was finally com- 
pleted in 1825. 

The Capitol Extension, — By the act of Congress, Sep- 



126 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

tember 30, 1850, provision was made for the extension of 
the Capitol, according to such plan as might be approved 
by the President. The plan of Thomas U. Walter, arch- 
itect, was accepted by President Fillmore, June 10, 1851, 
and he was appointed to carry it out. 

The corner-stone of the extension was laid with impo- 
sing ceremonies, which are best described by quoting the 
record deposited beneath the stone, which is as follows : — 

On the morning of the first day of the seventy-sixth 
year of the Independence of the United States of Amer- 
ica, in the city of Washington, being the 4th day of July, 
1851, this stone, designed as the corner-stone of the exten- 
sion of the Capitol, according to a plan approved by the 
President, in pursuance of an act of Congress, was laid 

by 

MILLARD FILLMORE, 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 

assisted by the Grand Master of the Masonic Lodges, in 
the presence of many members of Congress, of officers of 
the Executive and Judiciary Departments, National, State, 
and District, of officers of the Army and Navy, the Cor- 
porate authorities of this and neighboring cities, many 
associations, civil and military and masonic, officers of the 
Smithsonian Institution and National Institute, professors 
of colleges and teachers of schools of the District, with 
their students and pupils, and a vast concourse of people 
from places near and remote, including a few surviving 
gentlemen who witnessed the laying of the corner-stone 
of the Capitol by President Washington, on the eighteenth 
day of September, seventeen hundred and ninety-three. 

If, therefore, it shall be hereafter the will of God that 
this structure shall fall from its base, that its foundation 
be upturned, and this deposit brought to the eyes of men, 
be it then known, that, on this day, the Union of the United 
States of America stands firm ; that their Constitution still 
exists unimpaired, and with all its original usefulness and 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 127 

glory, growing every day stronger and stronger in the 
affections of the great body of the American people, and 
attracting more and more the admiration of the world. 
And all here assembled, whether belonging to public life 
or to private life, with hearts devoutly thankful to Al- 
mighty God for the preservation of the liberty and hap- 
piness of the country, unite in sincere and fervent prayers 
that this deposit, and the walls and arches, the domes and 
towers, the columns and entablatures now to be erected 
over it, may endure forever ! 

God save the United States of America. 

DANIEL WEBSTER, 
Secretary of State of the United States. 

Daniel Webster officiated as the orator of the day, and 
concluded the ceremony by a most eloquent address. 

The extension consists of two wings placed at the 
north and south ends of the former building, at a distance 
of 44 feet from it, with connecting corridors 56 feet 8 
inches wide inclusive of their outside colonnades. Each 
wing is 142 feet 8 inches in front, on the east, by 238 feet 
10 inches in depth, exclusive of the porticoes and steps. 
The porticoes fronting the east have each twenty-two mon- 
olithic fluted columns, and extend the entire width of the 
front, having central projections of ten feet four inches, 
forming double porticoes in the centre, the width of the 
gable. There is also a portico often columns on the west 
end of each wing, 105 feet 8 inches wide, projecting 10 
feet 6 inches, and like porticoes on the north side of the 
north wing and south side of the south wing, with a width 
of 121 feet 4 inches. The centre building is 352 feet 4 
inches long and 121 feet 6 inches deep, with a portico 160 
feet wide, of twenty-four columns, with a double fagade on 
the east, and a projection of 83 feet on the west, em- 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 129 

bracing a recessed portico of ten coupled columns. The 
entire length of the Capitol is 751 feet 4 inches, and the 
greatest depth, including porticoes and steps, is 324 feet. 
The ground actually covered by the building, exclusive 
of the court-yards, is 153,112 square feet, or 652 feet over 
three and a half acres. 

The material of which the extension is built', is a white 
marble slightly variegated with blue, and was procured 
from a quarry in Lee, Massachusetts. The columns are 
all of white marble obtained from Maryland. 

The principal story of the Capitol rests upon a rustic 
basement, which supports an ordonnance of pilasters rising 
to the height of the two stories above. Upon these pil- 
asters rests the entablature and beautiful frieze, and the 
whole is surmounted by a marble balustrade. 

The main entrances are by the three eastern porticoes, 
being made easy of access by broad flights of stone steps 
with massive cheek-blocks, and vaulted carriage-ways be- 
neath to the basement entrances. 

The Dome. — Over the rotunda, in the centre of this 
huge pile, rises a magnificent cast-iron dome. The old 
dome was constructed of brick, stone, and wood, and 
sheathed with copper. Its height, inclusive of a circular 
wooden balustrade upon the top, was 145 feet from the 
ground. This was removed in 1856, and the present stu- 
pendous structure of iron is now taking its place. It was 
designed by T. U. Walter, the accomplished architect of 
the extension, and the castings made and erected in their 
places, by Janes, Beebe & Co., of New York city, who 
have accomplished in this work the noblest specimen of 
iron construction of which the world can boast, embody- 



130 



WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 




"SO-^ SfNi. \wx 



APEX OF THE DOME 



ing all the most beautiful forms and proportions of classic 
architecture. The exterior presents a noble peristyle, 
124 feet in diameter, of fluted columns 27 feet in height, 
resting upon an octagonal base or stylobate, which it- 
self is 93 feet above the basement floor. The top of 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 131 

the entablature of the peristyle is at the height of 127 
feet above the basement floor. From this entablature 
springs an attic 44 feet in height and 108 feet in dia- 
meter ; and from the cornice of the attic, the great dome, 
of a semi-ellipsoidal form, rises to a height of 228 feet. 
The lantern on the top of this dome is 17 feet in dia- 
meter, and 52 feet high, and will be crowned by a bronze 
statue of Liberty, by Crawford, 16 feet 6 inches in height, 
rising to the height of 300 feet above the basement floor 
of the building. 

Architectural Sculpture. — The tympanum of the central 
pediment of the capitol is decorated with a group sculp- 
tured in alto-relievo, representing the Genius of America, 
crowned with a star, her right hand holding a shield, in- 
scribed with the letters U. S. A., surrounded with a glory. 
The shield rests on an altar, bearing the memorable date, 
" July 4, 1776," within a wreath. Behind her stands a 
spear, and at her feet, the eagle. Her face is turned to- 
wards a figure of Hope, upon the left, whose attention she 
is directing, by her right hand, to a figure of Justice upon 
her right, holding the " Constitution of the United States" 
upon a scroll, in her right hand, and the scales in her left. 
This group was executed by Signor Persico, and is said 
to have been designed by John Quincy Adams. 

The northern pediment contains a group of sculpture 
by Thomas Crawford, representing the progress of civili- 
zation in the United States. In the centre of the tym- 
panum stands a figure of America in the blaze of a rising 
sun. On her right are figures of the soldier, commerce, 
youth and education, the mechanic, and a sheaf of wheat, 
typical of agriculture. On her left are the pioneer back- 



132 



WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 




NORTU-EAST PEDIMENT OF THE CAPITOL. 

woodsman, the hunter, the Indian and his squaw with an 
infant in her arms, sitting by a filled grave. 

The southern pediment has not yet been filled, although 
it is understood that a design of the discovery by Colum- 
bus has been made for the purpose, by William R. Bar- 
bee, the Virginian sculptor. The subject is most appro- 
priate, and no other can properly be substituted for it, 
since the adoption of the design by Crawford, in com- 
pleting these most prominent decorations of the archi- 
tecture. It is essential to commemorate the discovery of 
the country before we illustrate its progress. 

Upon the cheek-blocks of the steps to the central por- 
tico, are two groups of statuary. On the north side, the 
early struggles of our pioneer settlers are symbolized in a 
group, by Horatio Greenough, representing a sturdy back- 
woodsman pinioning the arms of an Indian, who is about 
to dispatch, with his tomahawk, the wife and infant of the 
white man. A faithful dog stands ready to assist his 
master in time of need. This spirited work was erected 
in 1853. In the corresponding position opposite, the dis- 
covery of America is typified by Signor Persico, in a 
statue of Columbus presenting a globe in his hand, while 
an Indian maiden crouches by his side, gazing at him with 
mingled wonder and astonishment. 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 133 

Two of the finest pieces of sculpture about the Capitol 
are the statues of Mars and Ceres, by Persico, symbolizing 
War and Peace. They stand in niches on the right and 
left of the entrance to the rotunda. Immediately over 
the door, is a fine bas-relief by Signor Capellano, repre- 
senting Fame and Peace crowning a bust of Washington 
with wreaths of laurel. 

The Rotunda. — This circular room, occupying the cen- 
tre of the building, is ninety-six feet in diameter, and the 
entire height of the interior of the dome. It is surrounded 
by an ordonnance of fluted pilasters thirty feet in height, 
supporting an entablature and cornice of fourteen feet. 
Above this cornice a vertical wall will be raised, w T ith a 
deep recessed panel nine feet in height, to be filled with 
sculpture, forming a continuous frieze three hundred feet 
in length, of figures in alto-relievo. The subject to be 
the History of America. The gradual progress of a conti- 
nent from the depths of barbarism to the height of civiliza- 
tion ; the rude and primitive civilization of some of the 
ante-Columbian tribes ; the contests of the Aztecs with 
their less civilized predecessors ; their own conquest by 
the Spanish race ; the wilder state of the hunter tribes of 
our own regions ; the discovery, settlement, and wars of 
America ; the advance of the white and retreat of the red 
races ; our own revolutionary and other struggles, with an 
illustration of the higher achievements of our present civili- 
zation, will afford a richness and variety of costume, char- 
acter, and incident, which may worthily employ our best 
sculptors in its execution, and which will form for future 
ages a monument of the present state of the arts in this 
country. 

Above the frieze the interior will be enriched by a 



134 



WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 




SECTIONAL VIEW OF DOME 



series of. attached columns, with large windows in the 
interspaces, giving ample light to the rotunda. 

Above this colonnade a dome will spring, which, con- 
tracting to a space of sixty-five feet in diameter, will; 
through its opening, permit the eye to see another and 
lighter colonnade at a higher level; the whole being 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 135 

closed in at the base of the lantern, and at a height of 
203 feet above the pavement of the rotunda, by a second 
dome of 73 feet span. 

This upper dome, lighted by openings around its base, 
should be richly painted. Galleries at various heights, 
approached by stairs between the inner and outer shells 
of the building, will afford easy access to all parts of the 
dome, and from thence will be obtained a series of most 
picturesque views of the interior of the rotunda, and of 
the beautiful surrounding scenery. 

The walls of the rotunda, between the pilasters be- 
low, are decorated with eight paintings on canvas, each 
eighteen feet in length by twelve in height. . Four of 
them are by the hand of Colonel John Trumbull, and il- 
lustrate the Declaration of Independence, the Surrender 
of Burgoyne at Saratoga, the Surrender of Lord Corn- 
wallis at Yorktown, and the Resignation of Washing- 
ton, as Commander-in-chief of the Army, in 1783. 
These paintings were ordered by the government, at an 
expense of $8,000 each, and are valuable and interest- 
ing for the portraits they contain. The remaining four 
are, the Embarcation of the Pilgrims in the Speedwell, 
at Delft Haven, by Robert W. Weir ; the Landing of 
Columbus, by John Vanderlyn ; De Soto's Discovery of 
the Mississippi, by William H. Powell ; and the Baptism 
of Pocahontas, by John Gadsby Chapman. These were 
also ordered by Congress, and cost the government 
from $10,000 to $20,000 each. All these paintings have 
their faults, either in respect of design, perspective, or 
color ; and yet they all have their individual merits, and 
are worthy of the study of the artist and connoisseur. 
The wall above these paintings is ornamented with panels 



136 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

of arabesque in bas-relief. Four alternate panels contain 
heads of Columbus, Sir Walter Raleigh, Cabot, and La Salle. 

In panels over the four doors of the rotunda, are alto- 
relievos in stone ; Penn's Treaty with the Indians, by M. 
Gevelot; the Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, by 
Causici ; the Conflict of Daniel Boone with the Indians, 
by the same artist; and the Rescue of Captain John 
Smith by Pocahontas, by Capellano. 

The floor of the rotunda is of freestone, and is sup- 
ported by arches of brick, resting upon two concentric per- 
istyles of forty Doric columns in the crypt below. It was 
the intention of Congress to place the remains of Washing- 
ton in a mausoleum in the sub-basement, beneath the 
rotunda, to be made accessible by a spiral staircase de- 
scending from the floor. This project was abandoned in 
1832, upon the passage of a resolution by the Virginia 
legislature, requesting the proprietors of Mount Vernon 
not to consent to the removal of the remains, and the 
declension of John A. Washington, on the ground of 
respect for Washington's Will, directing the disposition 
of his ashes and those of his family. 

The Senate Chamber. — In the centre of the north 
wing is the chamber of the Senate. Its entrance from 
the interior of the building is at the termination of a long 
corridor, extending through the rotunda, and connecting 
with the door of the Hall of Representatives in the 
south wing. The main entrance from the exterior is by 
the eastern portico, through a spacious vestibule, with a 
marble paneled ceiling, supported by sixteen coupled 
fluted columns, with capitals beautifully foliated with 
acanthus and tobacco leaves. The walls of the vestibule 
are set with niches for statuary. 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 137 

The chamber itself is rectangular, and is 112 feet long 
by 82 in width, and 30 feet in height. The ceiling is 
entirely of cast iron, deeply paneled, with stained glass sky- 
lights, and ornamented in the richest style with foliage, 
pendants, and drops. The hall is surrounded by a gallery 
capable of seating one thousand persons. A portion of 
the gallery, over the chair of the Vice-President, is ap- 
propriated to reporters for the press. A section of the 
gallery, in front of the chair, is also reserved for the use 
of the diplomatic corps. The Secretary of the Senate, 
and his two assistants, occupy a desk immediately in 
front of the chair, and at the foot of this desk sit the spe- 
cial reporters of the debates. The seats of the Senators 
are ranged in three semicircular rows fronting the chair, 
each being supplied w T ith a small desk standing in front 
of it. The walls and ceiling are painted in very high 
colors, and the iroivwork bronzed and gilded. The 
chamber is lighted at night by gas, above the skylights, 
and is of such an even temper that it c£n scarcely be 
distinguished from daylight. The galleries are reached 
by magnificent marble staircases at either end of the hall, 
ceiled w r ith ornamental iron-work, and lighted by stained 
glass skylights. These staircases, and those correspond- 
ing in the south wing, are the most striking points of 
architecture in the extension. The Senate chamber is 
surrounded by a corridor, wdiich separates it from the 
Secretary's office and committee-rooms ranged around the 
outer walls of the wing. 

Immediately in the rear of the chair is the Senators' 
Eetiring Room, 38 by 21 \ feet, and 19\ in height. This 
is one of the gems of the building. The ceiling is of 
white marble, deeply paneled, and supported by four 



138 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

fluted columns of highly polished Italian marble. The 
walls are of Tennessee marble, in which are set huge 
plate-glass mirrors, serving for panels. 

Adjoining the retiring-room, on the west, is the Presi- 
dent's Eoom, which he occupies when attending to busi- 
ness in Congress. It is a square room, beautifully ceiled 
with frescoed representations, typical of the history of the 
country. On the walls, which are superbly decorated with 
arabesques in secco, are to be seen portraits of the first 
President and his Cabinet, executed by Costantino Brumidi. 

The Vice-President's Room adjoins the retiring-room 
on the east, and is also highly ornamented, and contains a 
large portrait of Washington, by Rembrandt Peale. The 
Reception Room and Senate Post Office are entered from 
the vestibule, and are also beautiful apartments, with 
walls decorated in secco painting, and gilded and fres- 
coed ceilings. 

Two staircases leading to the basement, are orna- 
mented with richly-foliated bronze railings, decorated with 
figures of the eagle, the deer, and Cupids. The basement 
contains a suite of committee-rooms, mostly ornamented 
in fresco and distemper, in the Italian and Pompeian 
styles. The corridors are exquisitely ornamented in dis- 
temper, by Signor Brumidi; the designs in arabesque 
and panel-work being taken from the loggia of Raphael 
and the ruins pf Pompeii. These minutely-finished paint- 
ings embody illustrations of the natural history of 
, America, the ornithology being mostly painted from the 
life. The corridors and rooms of both stories are paved 
with encaustic tiles laid in mosaic, after the choicest pat- 
terns of Pompeian and modern design, and are lighted by 
gorgeous bronze chandeliers. 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 139 

The Hall of Representatives. — This hall is in the 
centre of the south wing, and is situated precisely like 
the Senate chamber, but larger in its proportions, and more 
gaudily painted and ornamented. It is 139 feet long, 93 
feet wide, and 30 feet high, with a gallery running en- 
tirely around the hall, affording seats for 1,200 persons. 
Sections of the gallery are railed off for the especial use 
of the diplomatic corps and the reporters for the press. 
The reporters for the government have a desk directly 
below the chair of the Speaker. The elaborate ceiling of 
iron, supported by trusses from the roof, is paneled with 
glass to light the hall, each panel being ornamented by 
the arms of a State, represented in stained glass. The 
casting for the ceilings for both halls of Congress, is the 
work of Janes, Beebe & Go. The painting was done by 
German and Italian artists. The hall is surrounded by a 
corridor, outside of which is a range of committee-rooms, 
and offices of the Clerk of the House. The Speaker's 
Room is immediately in the rear of his chair, across the 
private lobby, and is highly decorated with mirrors and 
paintings, as are all the principal rooms in this wing. 
The main entrance from the portico will be occupied by 
double doors of bronze, richly ornamented with historical 
representations in bas-relief, designed by Rogers, and cast 
in Munich. Adjoining the grand colonnaded vestibule of 
the entrance from the eastern portico, is the House Post 
Office. The ascent to the gallery is by two grand marble 
staircases at the ends of the hall, like those in the Senate 
wing. There are also two staircases descending from 
the southern lobby of the House into the basement, with 
bronze railings of the same pattern as those in the north 
wing. 



140 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED." 

The basement is occupied by committee and document 
rooms. The room of the Committee on Agriculture is par- 
ticularly beautiful ; the walls and ceiling are painted m 
fresco, by Signor Brumidi. The arched ceiling is divided 
into four compartments, in which are represented the 
four seasons: in the eastern division, Flora is scattering 
Spring flowers; in the southern, Ceres holds full sheaves 
of grain ; in the western, Bacchus revels in the products 
of the vine ; and in the northern division, Boreas is accom- 
panied by fierce winds and rains. On the eastern wall is 
a fresco of the call of Cincinnatus from the plough to the 
dictatorship ; and upon the opposite wall is a companion 
painting of Putnam called from the plough to the battle 
of Lexington. 

The basement is traversed, north and south, by a 
corridor 24^- feet broad, containing thirty monolithic 
fluted columns of white marble, with capitals foliated with 
tobacco leaves and buds, supporting a ceiling of cast-iron 
panels. This corridor extends the entire length of the 
Capitol, terminating with a door at each end of the base- 
ment story. 

The Supreme Court Boom. — The hall occupied by the 
court was formerly the Senate chamber, and has been 
used by the court since December, 1860. It is situated 
upon the eastern side of the north wing of the centre 
building ; is semicircular, 75 feet long by 45 in height to 
the apex of the domed ceiling, which is paneled with 
stuccoed mouldings. A screen of Ionic columns, of green 
breccia or Potomac marble, supports a gallery upon the 
eastern side of the hall. The bench of the judges is 
ranged in front of the colonnade, facing the semicircle 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 141 

occupied by the bar and the lobby for spectators. At- 
tached to the Avail opposite the bench are consoles, sup- 
porting the busts of the former Chief Justices — John 
Jay, John Rutledge, Oliver Ellsworth, and John Marshall, 
The main entrance to the hall is from the corridor connect- 
ing the two houses of Congress. 

The Library of Congress. — The library, when com- 
pleted, will embrace the entire western projection of the 
centre building. It is situated on the west of the rotunda, 
and opens upon a portico of ten coupled columns, front- 
ing upon the western park and the city, commanding a 
charming view of the Potomac dotted with white sails, 
and the green hills of Virginia rising gently in the dis- 
tance. 

The main room is 91 feet long, 34 feet wide, and 38 
feet high, and is fitted up with three stories of iron cases, 
^ach nine feet six inches high. The lower story consists 
of alcoves nine feet wide, projecting eight feet six inches 
from the wall, with seven shelves, graduated in height. 
The second story has similar alcoves, with a projection of 
five feet. The wall of the third story is lined with cases 
without projections. The galleries are continued across 
the ends of the room, where they are supported by brack- 
ets. The galleries are floored with cast-iron plates, and 
protected by pedestals and railings, and are reached by 
semicircular staircases recessed in the end walls. The 
ceiling is of iron, skylighted with ground glass, and rests 
upon twenty-four massive foliated brackets of iron, weigh- 
ing a ton each. The pilasters and panels are tastefully 
ornamented, and the whole is painted a delicate cream 
color. The railings are bronzed, and the points and drops 



142 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

are burnished with gold leaf. The room is lighted by five 
windows in front, besides the skylights. The library was 
designed by Mr. Walter, and the castings executed by 
Janes, Beebe & Co. 

The purchase of books for the library was commenced 
under the act of Congress of April 24, 1800, at the sug- 
gestion of Mr. Jefferson. That act appropriated $5,000 
for the purpose, to be expended by the Secretary of the 
Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives, 
under the direction of a joint committee of both houses. 
By an act of January 26, 1802, the President of the Senate 
and the Speaker of the House, for the time being, were 
authorized to establish such regulations and restrictions 
in relation to the use of the library as they might deem 
proper ; and, from time to time, to alter or amend the 
same. By the same act, the President of the United 
States was authorized to appoint a librarian to take charge 
of the library. The collection, amounting to about 3,000' 
volumes, was consumed in the north wing of the Capitol 
when it was burned by the British, on the 24th of August, 
1814. 

In view of this loss, Mr. Jefferson offered his own 
private library to Congress, and on the 21st of October, 
1814, the Committee on the Library was authorized to 
make the purchase, and having agreed upon the terms, on 
the 31st of January, 1815, an appropriation of $23,950 
was made for that purpose. The books, numbering about 
7,500, were transferred to the city of Washington, and 
placed in the Post Office building, where Congress was 
then sitting. The library was removed from thence, in 
1818, to the Capitol, and located in a small room over the 
hall now occupied by the Supreme Court. Upon the com- 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 143 

pletion of the centre of the Capitol, in 1825, the library 
was removed to its present location. 

On the 24th of December, 1851, the library, then num- 
bering 55,000 volumes, was partially destroyed by fire, 
which was accidentally communicated from a defective 
flue in the adjoining masonry ; 20,000 volumes, occupy- 
ing a detached apartment, were saved, and among them, 
fortunately, was a large portion of the collection pur- 
chased of Mr. Jefferson. 

Temporary accommodations were immediately pre- 
pared, and $10,000 appropriated for a commencement of 
the restoration of the books destroyed. By an act of 
March 19, 1852, an appropriation of $72,500 was made 
for the repair of the library room, and the present beau- 
tiful structure was completed and furnished, ready for oc- 
cupation, on July 1, 1853. An appropriation of $75,000 
was made, August 31, 1852, to meet the expense of the 
extraordiniry purchase of books necessary to restore the 
library to its former state. 

An annual appropriation of $5,000 is made for the 
purchase of miscellaneous books, and $2,000 for law 
books. Selections are carefully made from the best bib- 
liographical and literary authorities, under the superin- 
tendence of the Joint Committee on the Library. The 
purchase of law books is directed by the judges of the 
Supreme Court of the United States, in accordance with 
an act of Congress of July 14, 1832. 

The library is general in selection, but is particularly 
full upon politics and international and civil law. The 
collection now numbers 70,000 volumes, exclusive of doc- 
uments, — which are kept in separate libraries of the Senate 
and House, and number about 80,000 volumes, including 



144 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

duplicates. The classification of the books, upon the 
shelves and in the catalogue, is the one adopted by Jeffer- 
son, and based upon Lord Bacon's division of learning. 
A complete and critical catalogue is now in press and 
nearly ready for publication. 

According to the regulations established by the Presi- 
dent of the Senate and Speaker of the House, the library 
is kept open every week-day during the sessions of Con- 
gress, from 9 o'clock A. M. until 3 P. M., and for the 
same hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays du- 
ring the recess. The use of the library is limited, by 
acts of Congress, to the President of the United States, 
the Vice-President, members of the Senate and House of 
Representatives, Judges of the Supreme Court, Cabinet 
officers, the Diplomatic corps, the Secretary of the Senate, 
Clerk of the House of Representatives, and Agent of the 
Joint Committee on the Library. 

A 

The Law Library, — In the basement, directly under 
the hall of the Supreme Court, in the room formerly oc- 
cupied by the court, is the Law Department of the Library 
of Congress, w T hich is separated from the main library for 
the convenience of the court. The room is of the same 
dimensions as the hall above, though less in height. The 
massive arches rest upon Doric columns, and the semicir- 
cular wall is studded with alcoves, containing 16,000 vol- 
umes of law ; forming the choicest and most extensive 
collection upon the subject in America. It is particularly 
rich in works upon the civil, maritime, and commercial 
law. A complete catalogue was published in December, 
1860. 

The Old Hall of Representatives. — The magnificent 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 145 

hall formerly occupied by the House of Representatives, 
is situated in the south wing of the centre building, 
between the rotunda and the present hall of the House. 
This stately hall is one of the most interesting relics of 
the history of Congress. The grand and imposing archi- 
tecture still remains firm, like the Constitution, bidding 
defiance, as it were, to all change. It is semicircular in 
form, 95 feet in length, and 60 feet in height to the apex 
of the vaulted ceiling. Twenty-four massive Corinthian 
columns, of variegated green breccia, support the -entabla- 
ture, from which springs the domed ceiling, beautifully 
painted in panel to imitate that of the Pantheon at Rome. 
From the centre of the ceiling rises a handsomely painted 
cupola, through which the light is admitted. In the tym- 
panum of the arch stands a colossal statue of Liberty, 
modeled in plaster, by Signor Causici. Beneath this 
figure, upon the entablature, is the American eagle, 
modeled from life, and cut in sandstone, by Signor Vala- 
perti. Over the main entrance from the rotunda, is a 
beautiful statue, by Franzoni, representing History stand- 
ing in a winged car, the wheel of which, resting on a 
globe, forms the face of a clock. The figure lends a 
listening ear, and, with pen and volume in hand, seems 
about to record the events as time rolls on. A full-length 
portrait of Lafayette adorns the western wall of the hall, — 
a present to Congress on the occasion of his visit to the 
United States, in 1825. The opposite wall bears a full- 
length portrait of Washington, painted by Yanderlyn, by 
order of Congress, for w r hich he received $2,500. 

The Speaker's chair and desks have been removed, 
and the grand corridor traverses the hall to the south 
wing. The galleries, occupying the space between the 



146 WASHINGTON DESCKIBED. 

columns and the wall, are to be removed, and the floor 
laid with tessellated pavement, when the hall will form 
an open court, serving as an additional rotunda, and as a 
receptacle for historical paintings and sculpture. 

The Document Library of the House. — This library- 
occupies very incommodious apartments situated in the 
second story of the old south wing, and is reached by a 
flight of stairs at the left of the entrance of the old hall 
of Representatives. It contains about 65,000 volumes 
of documents, laws, reports, debates, and newspapers, 
and is accessible to members of Congress, and persons 
introduced by them. The library is to be removed to 
more suitable and convenient apartments in the south 
wing. It is in charge of a librarian appointed by the 
Clerk of the House. 

The Commissioner of Public Buildings. — This officer 
has in charge the care of the public buildings in the city, 
the public parks and grounds, and all streets and avenues 
under the control of the government. He is appointed 
by the President, whom it is customary for him to serve 
in the capacity of usher at receptions and on occasions of 
ceremony. The Commissioner is assisted in his other 
duties by clerks, and occupies apartments on the west 
front of the basement story of the centre building of the 
Capitol. 

The Court of Claims. — This court occupies rooms 
upon the basement story of the centre building of the 
Capitol, on the western front. The formation and duties 
of the court will be included in the chapter on the judicial 
department of the government. 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 147 

The Capitol Grounds. — The Capitol is skirted on the 
western front by a stone terrace twenty-five feet wide, 
from which the glacis is descended by a double flight of 
stone steps to a second terrace or embankment, from 
which a second flight of steps leads to the sloping park 
below. These grounds are traversed by three flagged 
walks, fifteen feet wide, diverging from the foot of the 
first flight of steps and terminating at heavy stone gate- 
ways in the lofty iron palisade which surrounds the park. 
This park is ornamented with flower-beds and graveled 
walks, and a fountain in the centre, throwing a jet one 
hundred feet in height. 

In the eastern park is a colossal statue of Washington, 
executed in marble by Horatio Greenough. He is repre- 
sented sitting in a curule chair, his body nude to the 
waist, the right arm and lower limbs being draped. In 
his left hand he presents a Roman sword, hilt foremost, 
while with his right he points to heaven. The statue 
rests upon a pedestal of granite, twelve feet high, upon 
which is inscribed, "George Washington, First in War, 
First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of his Country- 
men." This statue is evidently an imitation of the an- 
tique statue of Jupiter Tonans. The ancients made their 
statues of Jupiter naked above and draped below, as being 
visible to the gods but invisible to men. This is emi- 
nently the case with this statue, being sufficiently exposed 
to the heavens, but scarcely recognizable, in this garb, to 
his countrymen. 

The Capitol Guard. — The Capitol is protected by a 
vigilant police force, whose duty is to keep the peace and 
preserve order in and about the building and grounds, by 
day and night. There is a guard-room in the basement, 



148 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

in which disturbers of the peace are temporarily confined, 
as occasion requires. The guard extend civilities, at all 
times, to strangers, and direct them to the different parts 
of the Capitol. They are easily distinguished by their 
badge. 

CONGRESS. 

The old Continental Congress and Congress of the Con- 
federation, was composed of delegates sent from the colo- 
nies to discuss the grievances charged against the mother- 
country, and to resolve upon measures of redress. The 
first session was held at Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, 
September 5, 1774. The following sessions commenced 
at Philadelphia, May 10, 1775; Baltimore, December 20, 
1776; Philadelphia, March 4, 1777; Lancaster, Penn., 
September 27, 1777 ; York, Penn., September 30, 1777 ; 
Philadelphia, July 2, 1778 ; Princeton, N. J., June 30, 
1783; Annapolis, Md., November 26, 1783; Trenton, 
N. J., November 1, 1784; New York City, January 11, 
1785, where the session continued until August 12, 1790. 

The Congress of the United States of America, under 
the Constitution, assembled for the first time, March 4, 
1789, and on July 16, 1790, passed an act locating the 
present seat of government, with the provision that Con- 
gress should sit in Philadelphia until the seat of govern- 
ment should be removed ; and Congress commenced its 
first session in the Capitol, in the city of Washington, 
November 17, 1800. 

All legislative powers are vested, by the Constitution, 
in Congress, which consists of a Senate and House of Re- 
presentatives, and must assemble at least once a year, on 
the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law 
appoint a different day. The second session of every 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 149 

Congress terminates, by law, at twelve o'clock at noon, 
of the 4th of March next following the commencement of 
the session. A majority of each house constitutes a quo- 
rum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn 
from day to day. Neither house can adjourn for more 
than three days without consent of the other. Senators 
and Representatives are bound by oath to support the 
Constitution. Members of both houses are privileged 
from arrest, except for treason, felony, or breach of the 
peace. 

The Senate, — The Senate is composed of two Senators 
from each State, chosen by the legislature for six years. 
In case of a vacancy, the Governor of the State appoints 
until the next meeting of the legislature. No person can 
be a Senator under thirty years of age, or who has not 
been nine years a citizen of the United States, and is not 
at the time of election an inhabitant of the State for which 
he is chosen. The Vice-President is President of the 
Senate, but has no vote except on an equal division, when 
he has the casting-vote. On the motion of a Senator, the 
galleries may be cleared, and the doors closed for secret 
session. The Senate held their sessions with closed doors 
until the second session of the third Congress, when they 
decided to sit with open doors and galleries, and to allow 
the debates to be reported, except on occasions when 
secrecy is required by law, or thought advisable. Twelve 
o'clock at noon is the hour for meeting, unless otherwise 
ordered. The Secretary of the Senate, the Sergeant-at- 
arms, Doorkeeper, and Assistant-doorkeepers, are chosen 
on the second Monday of the first session of each Con- 
gress. The Vice-President does not participate in debate. 



150 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

The House of Representatives. — This body is composed 
of members chosen every second year by the people of 
the States, and each is required to be twenty-five years of 
age, seven years a citizen of the United States, and an in- 
habitant of the State in which he is chosen. The appor- 
tionment of Representatives to population is made every 
ten years, after taking the census, the whole number being 
divided by 233, the number to which the House is limited 
by law, gives the rate of representation to population. 
There may be a greater number of Representatives when 
new States are admitted between the periods of the census. 
Delegates from Territories have a seat upon the floor, and 
a voice in debate, but no vote. The Speaker and officers 
of the House are chosen by the House for the Congress. 
The privileges of the Speaker are the same as those of 
any other Representative. The House meets at twelve 
o'clock at noon, unless otherwise specially ordered. 

Committees. — The appointment of committees of the 
two Houses is by the Vice-President and Speaker, respec- 
tively. To these committees is confided the initiation of 
business. The chairman of each committee reports, by 
bill or otherwise, and upon such report the Senate or 
House goes into Committee of the Whole House, when 
all the members are regarded as forming one committee. 
The Speaker calls a member to take the chair. The 
Speaker is then allowed to participate in debate. The 
Vice-President does not leave the chair. After consider- 
ation of the subject before the committee, it rises, and 
the chairman reports the action of the committee to the 
House or Senate. 



CHAPTEE V. 



THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 



The judicial powers of the government are vested in 
a Supreme Court and such inferior courts as Congress 
may from time to time establish. The present estab- 
lishment consists of a Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, 
District Courts, and Court of Claims. 

THE SUPREME COURT. 

This court consists of a Chief Justice and eight Asso- 
ciates, appointed by the President, to hold their offices 
during good behavior, any five of whom shall be a quo- 
rum, and hold annually one session, commencing on the 
first Monday in December. The court has exclusive 
jurisdiction of all controversies of a civil nature, where 
a State is a party, except between a State and its citizens, 
and except also between a State and citizens of other 
States, or aliens, — in which latter case it has original, 
but not exclusive jurisdiction. It has, exclusively, all 
such jurisdiction of suits or proceedings against ambas- 
sadors as a court can have, by the law of nations. The 
trial of issues in fact, are by jury. This court has appel- 
late jurisdiction from the Circuit and State courts, in cer- 
tain cases provided for by law. Each justice is also 



152 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

judge of one of the circuit courts. The officers of the 
court are, the Attorney-General, a clerk, deputy-clerk, 
reporter, marshal, and crier. Attorneys and counselors 
admitted to the bar of the court, must have practiced 
three years in the supreme court of the State in which 
they reside, and must have a fair private and professional 
character. They must take the oath to support the law 
and the Constitution. The court, in term-time, sits daily 
from 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. 

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. 

By act of Congress, September 24th, 1789, a person 
learned in the law is appointed to act as Attorney-Gene- 
ral of the United States, sworn to a faithful execution of 
his office. It is his duty to prosecute and conduct all 
suits in the Supreme Court in which the United States 
are concerned, and give his advice upon questions of law, 
when required by the President, or when requested by 
the heads of any of the departments, touching any mat- 
ters that may concern their departments. He is a Cab- 
inet officer, and meets the President and Secretaries in 
council. He is allowed an assistant, three clerks, and a 



messenger. 



THE COURT OF CLAIMS. 

This court was established February 24th, 1855, and 
consists of three judges, appointed by the President, by 
and with the consent of the Senate. Any two of the 
judges constitute a quorum. They hold their offices 
during good behavior, and hear and determine all claims 
founded upon any law of Congress, or upon any regula- 
tion of an executive department, or upon any contract, 



THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 153 

express or implied, with the government, which may be 
referred to the court by either house of Congress. A 
solicitor, and two assistant-solicitors, to represent the 
government before the court, are appointed by the Presi- 
dent by and with the consent of the Senate. The court 
keeps a record of its proceedings, and reports to Congress 
at the commencement of each session, and monthly 
during the session. There is a clerk, an assistant-clerk, 
and messenger attached to and appointed by the 
court. Sessions are held during the time of session of 
Congress, and during the remainder of the year, when 
there is any business on the docket. Court days are 
from Monday until Thursday, and Friday, on pressing 
occasions. Saturday is occupied by the judges as a day 
of conference. 



CHAPTEE VI. 



GOVERNMENTAL AND NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 



There are certain important establishments and insti- 
tutions at the seat of government, which, for the sake of 
preserving a reasonable unity of our theme, we have pre- 
ferred to classify under the designation given to this 
chapter. Some of them, indeed, are nominally branches 
of the executive departments, while others are either 
related to the government by their subjection to its over- 
sight, or by their identity with national interests. 




WASHINGTON NAVY YARD. 

During the administration of President Jefferson, the 
Navy Yard situated in the District of Columbia was 
established by an act of Congress, approved March 27th, 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 155 

1804. It is enclosed on the landward sides by a brick 
wall, the fourth side fronting the Anacostia river. Enter- 
ing the yard through a handsome gateway, designed by 
Benjamin Latrobe, the visitor is greeted with the sight of 
trophies of naval warfare. These consist of cannon cap- 
tured by our gallant seamen, not the least interesting 
amongst them being the two whose history is recorded in 
the inscription borne by one of them : " On the 3d day 
of August, 1804, Captain Stephen Decatur, in command 
of an American gun-boat off Tripoli, boarded and cap- 
tured in succession two Tripolitan gun-boats, armed with 
this and the adjacent gun." The Navy Yard covers 
about thirty-seven acres of land ; and, besides the work- 
shops, contains the officers' quarters. The main building 
is 432 feet in length on the east and west fronts, and 265 
feet in length on the north and south fronts ; it contains 
the boiler-shop, machine-shop, pattern-shop, smithery, and 
erecting-shop. Another large building is situated east- 
ward of the main building ; it contains the forge-shop, — 
in which may be seen in operation a steam-hammer 
weighing five tons, — the anchor and faggoting shops. 
The business of the latter is to convert the scrap-iron col- 
lected from various Navy Yards into blooms, from which 
the heaviest anchors are forged. Northward of the first- 
mentioned building is the iron-foundry, 265 feet long and 
65 feet wide, in which all the castings are made for the 
machinery of government ships, and the shot and shells 
for the Ordnance Department are cast. The new Ord- 
nance building, which is about the same size, is seen to 
the westward. The Dahlgren guns, howitzers, carriages, 
Minie balls, and various forms of cartridges, are here 
manufactured, under careful supervision. Besides these, 



156 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

there are various other buildings for offices, carpenters, 
blockmakers, pyrotechnists, riggers, copper-rolling mill, 
navy stores, brass-foundry, caniboose-shop, and tank- 
shop. In the southeast corner of the yard is the ship- 
house and marine railway. 

UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY. 

The office of this important enterprise is situated on 
New Jersey avenue. Although the service of surveying 
the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts of the United States 
is legally under the control of the Treasury Department, 
its duties are discharged by officers of the army and navy, 
with the assistance of scientific civilians. The work of 
survey is divided into nine sections, each of which com- 
mences by measuring a base-line five or ten miles in 
length ; this is performed by using a compensating base- 
apparatus, and requires the greatest care and exactness. 
After this a series of stations is established, and by com- 
puting the triangulation of these from the principal base, 
a centre is obtained for all subsequent measurements. The 
topography being completed, the hydrographer commences 
to take soundings. When the field-work is finished, the 
results thus obtained are forwarded to the office in Wash- 
ington, where the drawings are reduced, engraved, elec- 
trotyped and printed. 

NATIONAL OBSERVATORY. 

The National Observatory is situated southwest of the 
Executive Mansion, upon an elevated site, commanding a 
beautiful view of the noble Potomac river, and in full 
sight of the two cities of Washington and Georgetown. 
It was originally designed and used for a hydrographical 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 157 

office. The preparation of wind and current charts, the 
regulation of chronometers, and the other branches of hy- 
drographical research still occupy the principal care of the 
Observatory, in which astronomical investigation is made 
a secondary consideration. In the west wing of the build- 
ing is placed the transit instrument, under a slit twenty 
inches wide, extending across the roof, and down the wall 
of the apartment on each side to within four or five feet 
of the floor. 

The transit instrument is a seven-foot achromatic with 
a clear aperture of 5.3 inches, and was made by Ertel & 
Son, of Munich; the. mounting consists of two granite 
piers, seven feet high, each formed of a solid block of that 
stone, let down below the floor and imbedded in a 
stone foundation eight feet deep, and completely isola- 
ted from the building. Midway between the piers, and 
running north and south, is the artificial horizon, composed 
of a slab of granite ten feet long, nineteen inches deep, 
and thirteen inches broad ; it rests on the foundation, and 
is isolated from the floor, with the level of which the top 
of R is even, with a space all around it of half an inch; 
in the middle of this slab, and in the nadir of the telescope, 
there is a mortise, nine inches square and ten inches deep, in 
which the artificial horizon is placed to protect it from 
the wind during the adjustment for collimation, or the 
determination of the error of collimation of level, and the 
adjustment for stellar focus, vertically of wires, and the 
other uses of the collimating eye-piece. Besides this del- 
icate instrument, and connected with its uses, there is an 
astronomical clock to denote sidereal time, the electric 
chronograph, invented by Professor John Locke. In the 
south wing of the building is the prime vertical transit, 
8 



158 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

and the photograph-room. A very fine library of astron- 
omical works, and a normal clock, made by Kessels, of 
Altona, are in the room of the Superintendent. The clock 
has a gridiron pendulum, and its annual variation is less 
than eleven seconds. In the east wing is the mural circle. 
Here also is the meridian circle ; the telescope tube is 56 
inches in length, the object-glass has 4.5 inches of clear 
aperture, and 58.2 of focal length. The electric clock, by 
which chronometers are regulated, is worthy of observa- 
tion, as well as the valuable collection of charts. In the li- 
brary, amongst many other rare works, are to be found a 
number of star charts, and a daily record of the barome- 
ter, thermometer, state of the winds and of the heavens, 
compiled by Le Verrier, from observations extending 
from Algiers to St. Petersburg in latitude, and from 
Constantinople to Paris in longitude. The large equa- 
torial in the dome was constructed by Merz & Mahler, 
of Munich, and is a counterpart of the instruments at 
Dorpat and Berlin. The object-glass of this instrument 
has a clear aperture of 9.65 inches, and a focal length of 
14 feet 4.3 inches ; its magnifying power ranges from 80 
to 600, although the higher power is seldom attained, 
owing to the fact that the slightest tremor of the building 
throws the object out of the focal plane. When required, 
a clockwork motion is attached to compensate for the 
revolution of the earth upon its axis. An electric chrono- 
graph is also connected with it when it is used as a transit 
instrument. The observatory is open to visitors every 
day between the hours of 9 A. M. and 3 P. M., and a cour- 
teous officer renders all necessary assistance, and furnishes 
all needful information. 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 159 

THE WASHINGTON NATIONAL MONUMENT. 

The subject of erecting a national monument to 
Washington was mooted by the Continental Congress, as 
early as 1783, when a resolution was passed ordering a 
statue to be erected " in honor of George Washington, 
the illustrious Commander-in-chief of the United States 
of America during the war which vindicated and secured 
their liberty, sovereignty, and independence." The 
commissioners who laid out the city set apart the present 
site of the monument, but for want of funds, the statue 
was not ordered. The ground selected by the commis- 
sioners was marked on the plan of the city submitted to 
Congress by Washington in- 1793, and Washington died 
in the belief that on that spot he would be commemo- 
rated. 

In 1799, Congress passed a resolution authorizing 
President Adams to correspond with Mrs. Washington, 
asking her consent to the removal and interment of her 
husband's remains beneath a monument to be erected by 
the government in the Capitol. Mrs. Washington con- 
sented, in the following beautiful and concise letter : — 

Taught, by the great example I have so long had before 
me, never to oppose my private wishes to the public will, 
1 must consent to the request of Congress which you had 
the goodness to transmit to me ; and, in doing this, I need 
not — I cannot — say what a sacrifice of individual feeling 
I make to a sense of public duty. 

The monument w'as not erected, and Washington's 
remains were therefore not removed. 

In 1800, a bill passed one house of Congress, for erect- 
ing a " mausoleum ofrAmerican granite and marble, in a 
pyramidal form, one hundred feet square at the base, and 



160 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

of a proportional height." In 1816, the subject was again 
discussed without effect. Congress again made an appli- 
cation, in 1832, to the proprietor of Mount Vernon, for 
the removal and deposit of the remains of Washington in 
the Capitol, in conformity with the resolution of 1799. 
The legislature of Virginia protested against the move- 
ment, and Mr. John A. Washington declined the proposal. 

On the 26th of September, 1833, several citizens of 
Washington assembled together, and in the course of a 
series of meeting, digested a plan for erecting a national 
monument. An organization was formed, styled the 
Washington National Monument Society, and Chief Jus- 
tice John Marshall was chosen president. Since the death 
of Judge Marshall, the successive Presidents of the United 
States have held that position, by the constitution of the 
society. 

Subscriptions, limited to one dollar, were immediately 
commenced, for raising the requisite funds ; and this sys- 
tem being found inadequate, in 1846 the donations were 
made unlimited, but the collection still increased very 
slowly. It became necessary to decide upon a plan for 
the edifice, and from a large number of designs, mostly 
fantastic and ill conceived, that of Robert Mills was 
finally selected, consisting of an Egyptian obelisk, six 
hundred feet in height, surrounded by a Doric colonnade 
called a pantheon, to contain statues and revolutionary 
relics. The site of the monument was set apart by the 
President of the United States, under an act of Congress 
of January 21, 1848, and covers thirty acres of ground, 
near the Potomac, directly west of the Capitol and south 
of the President's mansion, commanding a full view 
of the river. It is at the intersection of Louisiana and 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 161 

Virginia avenues, upon the Mall, and is called Monument 
Square. 

The corner-stone was laid July 4, 1848. At ten 
o'clock that morning, a grand military, civic, and Masonic 
procession was formed at the City Hall, under the direc- 
tion of Mr. Joseph II. Bradley, Marshal of the day ; the 
military being under the command of Major-General 
Quitman. Included in the procession were delegations 
from several tribes of Indians. The line formed eight 
abreast, numbering about four thousand, and marched to 
the Monument Square, with banners flying, martial music, 
and the solemn tolling of the bells of the city. Hon. 
Robert C. Winthrop, the orator of the day, delivered an 
eloquent oration upon the life and character of Wash- 
ington. His peroration contained the following beautiful 
language : — 

Let the column which we are about to construct, be at 
once a pledge and an emblem of perpetual union ! Let 
the foundations be laid, let the superstructure be built up 
and cemented, let each stone be raised and riveted, in a 
spirit of national brotherhood ! And may the earliest ray 
of the rising sun — till that sun shall set to rise no more — 
draw forth from it daily, as from the fabled statue of an- 
tiquity, a strain of national harmony, which shall strike a 
responsive cord in every heart throughout the Republic ! 

Proceed, then, feIlow-citizens a with the work for which 
you have assembled ! Lay the corner-stone of a monu- 
ment which shall adequately bespeak the gratitude of the 
whole American People to the illustrious Father of his 
Country ! Build it to the skies : you cannot outreach the 
loftiness of his principles ! Found it upon the massive 
and eternal rock : you cannot make it more enduring than 
his fame ! Construct it of the peerless Parian marble : 
you cannot make it purer than his life ! Exhaust upon it 
the rules and principles of ancient and modern art : yon 
cannot make it more proportionate than his character ! 



1G2 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

* * * * The Republic may perish ; the wide 
arch of our ranged Union may fall ; star by star its glories 
may expire ; stone after stone its columns and its capital 
may moulder and crumble ; all other names which adorn 
its annals may be forgotten ; but as long as human hearts 
shall anywhere pant, or human tongues shall anywhere 
plead, for a true, rational, constitutional liberty, those 
hearts shall enshrine the memory, and those tongues shall 
prolong the fame, of George Washington. 

The Grand Master then delivered an appropriate Ma- 
sonic address, after which the Fraternity entered, beneath 
a beautifully decorated arch, to the excavation, where the 
Grand Master of Masons laid the corner-stone, w r ith the 
usual ceremonies. The stone, weighing twelve tons, had 
been prepared with a cavity lined with zinc, into which 
the inscription plate w T as placed, together w T ith about one 
hundred other articles, consisting of books, portraits, 
maps, newspapers, coins and medals, Masonic records, 
and the design of the monument. The Grand Master wore 
the apron and used the gavel with w T hich Washington laid 
the corner-stone of the Capitol. The inscription upon the 
plate was as follows : 

4th JULY, 1776, 

Declaration of Independence of the United States of 

America. 

4th JULY, 1848, 

This Corner-stone laid, of a Monument, by the People 

of the United States, to George Washington. 

The names of the officers of the society were also. in- 
scribed on the plate. The ceremony of the day was closed 
by a brilliant display of fire-w r orks in the evening. 

The foundation of the monument is solid rock. The 
base of the shaft is 81 feet square, and the shaft is to rise 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 163 

to the height of 600 feet, and to be encircled by a grand 
colonnade or pantheon, 250 feet in diameter and 100 feet 
high ; over the portico of which is a colossal statue of 
Washington, 30 feet high, in a chariot drawn by six 
horses, driven by Victory, all of colossal proportions. 
The colonnade is to consist of 30 columns, 12 feet in dia- 
meter and 45 feet high, surrounded by an entablature of 
20 feet, and a balustrade 15 feet in height. The entabla- 
ture will be decorated with the arms of the States, inclosed 
in wreaths of bronze. The portico consists of a projec- 
tion supported by four columns, and is reached by a grand 
flight of marble steps. Over the centre of the portico will 
be emblazoned the arms of the United States. The in- 
terior, or rotunda, will be ornamented with statues of the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence, set in niches 
in the surrounding wall ; and upon the wall, above the 
niches, will be represented, in basso-relievo, the principal 
battles of the Revolution. Conspicuous in front of the 
entrance of the rotunda, will stand a statue of Washington. 
Within the stylobate or base of the monument, will be a 
labyrinth of apartments arranged in a most intricate man- 
ner. 

The material of which the facing of the monument is 
constructed, is what is known as Symington's large crys- 
tal marble, procured from the vicinity of Baltimore. The 
body of the wall is of blue gneiss. The interior lining is 
to be decorated with blocks presented by the different 
States and foreign nations, societies and city corpora- 
tions, ornamented with coats of arms and appropriate in- 
scriptions, and so disposed in the wall as to be visible in 
ascending the shaft of the monument. The ascent will be 
by a spiral iron staircase, lighted with gas, — the only open- 



164 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

ings, except the doors below, being star-shaped windows 
near the top. It is proposed to close the apex with a 
cone of glass. Besides the staircase, the ascent will be 
made by means of machinery up the centre of the shaft. 
The present height of the structure is 184' feet. It is to 
be hoped that more active measures will be taken, and 
that the plan will be carried out by the government ; as 
that is the only proper and effective method of securing 
the necessary means for its completion. 

The United States has not yet reached the age of 
monument-building. This nation has not even emerged 
from the youth of action into the prime of its history, and 
has yet to run a long and brilliant career before it shall 
pass into a dotage of inactivity, when it can afford to rest 
upon the laurels of the past. It can then spend its second 
childhood in recording the annals of gathered glories, and 
in erecting splendid monuments over the ashes of de- 
parted merit. When our wealth and population shall 
have increased, and the federal and democratic spirit of 
the present shall have yielded to the sway of interest, and 
an inevitable aristocracy ; then an austere administration 
will possess the power and means of dedicating magnifi- 
cent memorials to the merit of which the age will find 
itself most in need. 

The great monuments of other nations »have all been 
erected at government expense, and at the will of des- 
potic rulers. The pyramids of Egypt would never have 
been built by voluntary subscription. The Dacian vic- 
tories of Trajan would have remained uncommemorated, 
if his pictured column had awaited the denarii of the 
Roman people. The column of Antonine, the triumphal 
arches of the Roman emperors, the Hotel des Invalides, 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS 165 

and all great monuments, have been government works. 
The Peter-pence for the stupendous monument to the 
original of apostolic succession, were also collected under 
a peremptory tax ; the subscription for the Nelson monu- 
ment, barely sufficed for the admission fee of the pro- 
posed memorial into Westminster Abbey. We can 
scarcely expect to be more successful in the United 
States, and deserve little reproach on account of the fact 
that, in a few years, we have not succeeded in perpetuating, 
in brass and stone, the memory of Washington. His 
glory is so fresh in the appreciation of his countrymen, 
that they neglect the importance of securing to posterity 
an enduring record of their veneration. The work should 
not depend upon casual contributions, but be completed 
immediately at the expense of the government. 

When this national memorial shall raise its head 
towards heaven, a tower of strength amid the clouds 
and tempests which environ it, and when the sun shines 
out upon it in the calm repose of its majesty, it will then 
become a fitting symbol of the great hero and sage, 
first in war and first in peace, " adversis major par se- 
ciindis" 

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 

It will be observed that we have designated the con- 
tents of this chapter as descriptive of governmental and 
national establishments, as distinct from the topics be- 
longing to the former chapters upon the executive, legis- 
lative, and judicial departments. We were led to this 
choice by- the consideration that there are, in the federal 
city, certain institutions which are national, both in their 
objects and organization, and, in a greater or less degree, 
8* 



106 



WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 



under the patronage or control of the national Govern- 
ment, or else deserving of national recognition. 

The Smithsonian Institution is so far identified with 
the Government, that while it involves the nation in no 
expense, except perhaps for printing, the fund from 
which its income is derived belongs to the people of the 
United States, in trust for special purposes ; and, with a 
view to the faithful discharge of that trust, the President of 
the United States, Vice-President, Chief Justice of the Su- 
preme Court, Attorney-General, Secretaries of War, 
Navy, and Treasury, Postmaster-General, and Commis- 
sioner of Patents, are, ex officio, Regents of the Institution. 




SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 

The building is situated on that portion of the public 
grounds extending westward from the capitol to the 
Potomac River, and known as the Mall. The style of 
architecture is the early Gothic, and a fine specimen of 
the richness of detail and ornamentation peculiar to the 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 167 

last half of the twelfth century, the transition period of 
architecture. It was designed by James Renwick, Jr., 
of New York, and is built of light-red sandstone ob- 
tained from the vicinity of Seneca Creek, a tributary of 
the Potomac, about twenty-three miles from Washington. 
The color of the stone harmonizes with the style of 
architecture, and produces a rich and solid effect. 

The main building has, in the centre of its north front, 
two towers, of which the higher reaches an elevation of 
about 150 feet. On the south front is a tower, 37 
feet square and 91 feet high. On the northeast corner 
is a campanile tower, 17 feet square and 117 feet high; 
at the southwest corner an octagonal tower, in which is a 
spiral staircase. There are nine towers in all. 

The entire length of the building, from east to west, 
is 447 feet; its greatest breadth is 160 feet. The east 
wing is 82 by 52 feet, and 42£ feet high to the top of its 
battlement ; the west wing, including its projecting apsis, 
is 84 feet by 40, and 38 feet high; and each of the connecting 
ranges, including its cloister, is 60 feet by 49. The main 
building is 205 feet by 57, and, to the top of the corbel 
course, 58 feet high. The corner-stone was laid, with Ma- 
sonic ceremonies, in the presence of President Polk, May 
1st, 1847. 

The founder of this Institution, James Smithson, was 
an Englishman, claiming a descent from the noble families 
of Northumberland and Somerset ; until manhood he was 
known as James Lewis Macie, when he asserted his right 
to the family name of the Duke of Northumberland, and 
ever after called himself James Smithson. He possessed 
great scientific attainments and furnished many valuable 
memoirs for the jRoyal Society of England. After his 



168 WASHINGTON DESCKIBED. 

decease, he bequeathed all his property — with a reservation 
of $25,000 to form the principal of an annuity for a rela- 
tive — to the United States of America, " to found, at Wash- 
ington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an 
establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowl- 
edge among men." The bequest having been legally 
tested by the High Court of Chancery in England, the 
United States, represented by Hon. Richard Rush, 
obtained a decree which placed them in possession of 
$515,169, which amount was placed in the Treasury of the 
United States, and has ever since remained intact, — the 
interest arising from it having been so judiciously hus- 
banded as to furnish means for all the outlays for every 
purpose, including the cost of erecting its beautiful struc- 
ture. The act incorporating the Institution was approved 
by the President, August 20, 1846, and the first session 
of the Board of Regents was commenced on the 7th of the 
following September. It was, however, principally occu- 
pied in discussions relative to the plan of organization, 
which was not adopted until the beginning of 1847. After 
full examination of various projects, the following pro- 
gramme of organization, presented by the Secretary, was 
decided upon as, in the opinion of the Regents, most 
nearly arriving at the intention of the founder : 

To Increase Knowledge, It is proposed : 1 . To stim- 
ulate men of talent to make original researches, by offer- 
ing suitable rewards for memoirs containing new truths ; 
and, 2. To appropriate annually a portion of the income 
for particular researches, under the direction of suitable 
persons. 

To Diffuse Knowledge. It is proposed : 1 . To publish 
a series of periodical reports on the progress of the diffei*- 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 169 

ent branches of knowledge ; and, 2. To publish, occasion- 
ally, separate treatises on subjects of general interest. 

Details of Plan to Incrase Knowledge. I. By stim- 
ulating researches. 1. Facilities to be afforded for the 
production of original memoirs on all branches of knowl- 
edge. 2. The memoirs thus obtained to be published in 
a series of volumes, in a quarto form, and entitled Smith- 
sonian Contributions to Knowledge. 3. No memoir, on 
subjects of physical science, to be accepted for publication, 
which does not furnish a positive addition to human 
knowledge, resting on original research ; and all unverified 
speculations to be rejected. 4. Each memoir presented 
to the Institution to be submitted for examination to a 
commission of persons of reputation for learning in the 
branch to which the memoir pertains, and to be accepted 
for publication only in case the report of this commission 
is favorable. 5. The commission to be chosen by the 
officers of the Institution, and the name of the author, as 
far as practicable, concealed, unless a favorable decision 
be made. 6. The volumes of the memoirs to be exchanged 
for the transactions of literary and scientific societies, and 
copies to be given to all the colleges, and principal 
libraries, in this country. One part of the remaining 
copies may be offered for sale ; and the other carefully 
preserved, to form complete sets of the work, to supply the 
demand from new institutions. 7. An abstract, or popular 
account, of the contents of these memoirs to be given to the 
public through the annual report of the Regents to Con- 
gress. II. By appropriating a part of the income, annually, 
to special objects of research, under the direction of suit- 
able persons. 1. The objects, and the amount appropri- 
ated, to be recommended by counselors of the Institution. 



170 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

2. Appropriations in different years to different objects ; 
so that in course of time each branch of knowledge may 
receive a share. 3. The results obtained from these 
appropriations to be published, with the memoirs before 
mentioned, in the volumes of the Smithsonian Contribu- 
tions to Knowledge. 4. Examples of objects for which 
appropriations may be made: (1.) System of extended 
meteorological observations for solving the problem of 
American storms. (2.) Explorations in descriptive nat- 
ural history, and geological, magnetical, and topographical 
surveys, to collect materials for the formation of a Phys- 
ical Atlas of the United States. (3.) Solution of experi- 
ment problems, such as a new determination of the 
weight of the earth, of the velocity of electricity and of 
light ; chemical analyses of soils and plants ; collection 
and publication of scientific facts, accumulated in the 
offices of government. (4.) Institution of statistical in- 
quiries with reference to physical, moral, and political 
subjects. (5.) Historical researches, and accurate sur- 
veys of places celebrated in American history. (6.) Eth- 
nological researches, particularly with reference to the 
different races of men in North America ; also, explora- 
tions and accurate surveys of the mounds and other 
remains of the ancient people of our country. 

Details of the Plan for Diffusing Knowledge. I. By 
the publication of a series of reports, giving an account 
of the new discoveries in science, and of the changes made 
from year to year in all branches of knowledge not 
strictly professional. 1. These reports will diffuse a 
kind of knowledge generally interesting, but which, at 
present, is inaccessible to the public. Some reports may 
be published annually, others at longer intervals, as the 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 171 

income of the Institution or the changes in the branches 
of knowledge may indicate. 2. The reports are to be 
prepared by collaborators eminent in the different 
branches of knowledge. 3. Each collaborator to be 
furnished with the journals and publications, domestic 
and foreign, necessary to the compilation of his report ; 
to be paid a certain sum for his labors, and to be named 
on the title-page of the report. 4. The reports to be 
published in separate parts, so that persons interested in 
a particular branch can procure the parts relating to it 
without purchasing the whole. 5. These reports may be 
presented to Congress for partial distribution, the remain- 
ing copies to be given to literary and scientific insti- 
tutions, and sold to individuals for a moderate price. 
II. By the publication of separate treatises on subjects 
of general interest. 1. These treatises may occasionally 
consist of valuable memoirs translated from foreign lan- 
guages, or of articles prepared under the direction of the 
Institution, or procured by offering premiums for the best 
exposition of a given subject. 2. The treatises should, in 
all cases, be submitted to a commission of competent 
judges previous to their publication. 

The only changes made in the policy above indicated 
have been the passage of resolutions, by the Regents, re- 
pealing the equal division of the income between the 
active operations and the museum and library, and 
further providing that the annual appropriations are to 
be apportioned specifically among the different objects 
and operations^ of the Institution, in such manner as may, 
in the judgment of the Regents, be necessary and proper 
for each, according to its intrinsic importance, and a com- 
pliance in good faith with the law. 



172 WASHINGTON DE6CKIBEU. 

An able writer in the Democratic Quarterly Review, 
published in Washington, February, 1861, cites the fol- 
lowing responsible witnesses to establish the judicious 
manner in which the great work deputed to the Smithson- 
ian Institution is performed : 

" Professor Forbes, of Edinburg, in reference to a work 
of marine exploration, whose results have been given to 
the world at the charge of the Institution, observes : A 
more proper person than Professor Harvey, of the Uni- 
versity of Dublin, could not have been selected for the 
elaboration of a 6 Nereis Boreali- Americana ;' and most 
honorable is it to the directors of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion of North America, that they should have selected this 
gentleman for the task of which we have now the first 
fruits. The trustees of that establishment are pursuing a 
course which is sure to do much towards the wholesome 
development of science in the United States. In the 
present instance, they have done what is both wise and 
generous ; and, in seeking the best man to do the difficult 
work they require done, have recognized nobly the truth 
that science belongs to the world, to all mankind, laboring 
for the benefit of all regions and races alike. And Pro- 
fessor Agassiz, in acknowledgment of services rendered 
him in the preparation of his important work on the 
Natural History of the? United States, thus expresses him- 
self : ' Above all, I must mention the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, whose officers, in the true spirit of its founder, 
have largely contributed to the advancement of my re- 
searches by forwarding to me for examination not only all 
the speciments of Testudinati collected for the museum of 
the Institution, but also those brought to Washington by 
the naturalists of the different parties that have explored 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 17o 

the western Territories, or crossed the continent with the 
view of determining the best route for the Pacific rail- 
road. These specimens have enabled me to determine the 
geographical distribution of this order of reptiles with a 
degree of precision which I could not have attained with- 
out this assistance. '" 

We are indebted to the same writer, to whose compre- 
hensive and well-condensed article we owe a grateful 
testimony, for calling our attention to the following im- 
portant suggestions, contained in the eighth annual report 
of the Institution, prepared by Professor Henry : — 

There is one part of the Smithsonian operations that 
attracts no public attention, though it is producing, it is 
believed, important results in the way of diffusing knowl- 
edge, and is attended, perhaps, with more labor than any 
other — the scientific correspondence of the Institution. 
Scarcely a day passes in which communications are not 
received from persons in different parts of the country, 
containing accounts of discoveries, which are referred to 
the Institution, or asking questions relative to some branch 
of knowledge. The rule was early adopted to give respect- 
ful attention to every letter received, and this has been 
faithfully adhered to from the beginning up to the present 
time. The ordinary inquiries addressed to the Secretary 
relate to the principles of mechanics, electricity, magnet- 
ism, meteorology, names of specimens of plants, minerals, 
insects, and, in short, to all objects or phenomena of a 
remarkable or unusual character. Requests are frequently 
mad'e for lists of apparatus, for information as to the best 
books for the study of special subjects, hints for the 
organization of local societies, &c. Applications are also 
made by persons abroad for information relative to 
particular subjects respecting this country. When an 
immediate reply cannot be given to a question, the subject 
is referred by letter to some one of the Smithsonian co- 
laborers, to whose line of duty it pertains, and the answer 



174 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

is transmitted to the inquirer, either under the name of 
the person who gives the information, or that of the Insti- 
tution, according to the circumstances of the case. 

There is no country on the face of the earth in which 
knowledge is so generally diffused as in the United States ; 
none in which there is more activity of mind or freedom 
of thought and discussion, and in which there is less re- 
gard to what should be considered as settled and well- 
established principles. It will not therefore be surprising 
that the Institution should be called upon to answer a 
great number of communications intended to subvert the 
present system of science, and to establish new and vis- 
ionary conceptions in its stead ; and that numerous letters 
should be received pertaining to such subjects as the 
quadrature of the circle, the trisection of the angle, the 
invention of self-moving machines, the creation of power, 
the overthrow of the Newtonian system of gravitation, 
and the invention of new systems of the universe. 

Many of these communications are of such a character 
that, at first sight, it might seem best to treat them with 
silent neglect ; but the rule has been adopted to state, 
candidly and respectfully, the objections to such propo- 
sitions, and to endeavor to convince their authors that 
their ground is untenable. 

In this Institution may be found the scientific results 
of the United States exploring expeditions, which are here 
preserved at the expense of the government, no other 
suitable place having as yet been prepared. This museum 
contains the best collection of specimens of natural his- 
tory, and of foreign curiosities, to be found in America. 

The Library of the Institution, already rich, promises 
to become the most valuable collection of scientific works 
in the world. In carrying out the plan of the Smithsonian 
Institution, it would be folly to expend any portion of its 
income in the purchase of works which could not forward 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 175 

its settled policy ; and no better proof can be afforded of 
the efficiency of the managers of this great enterp ise 
than that the literary is made subordinate to, and con- 
sidered the servant of, the scientific department. 

We regret that it is not in our power to afford space 
for a detailed description of the various scientific pursuits 
which are prosecuted in the Institution, by competent per- 
sons, with an ardor that only science can inspire. The 
following facts, gleaned from the report of 1856, and not 
embracing the subsequent labors of the Institution, will 
afford a faint idea of the accomplishments of an Institu- 
tion which a large number of visitors suppose to be only 
a national show-shop : — 

A Library has been established, containing nearly 
50,000 articles ; a museum has been collected, the most 
extensive in the world, as regards the natural history of the 
North American Continent ; a cabinet of apparatus has 
been procured, through the liberality of Dr. Hare, and 
other means of original research and illustration in the 
principal phenomena of chemistry and natural philosophy ; 
lectures have been delivered annually, by some of the most 
distinguished men in science and literature, before large 
audiences ; an extensive series of original papers on va- 
rious branches of science has been published and dis- 
tributed at the expense of the Institution, which has 
also rendered aid in preparing them, by advances from its 
funds, and the use of its library, collections, and influence ; 
natural history explorations have been made at the ex- 
pense of the government, but principally at the instance 
and under the scientific direction of this Institution, which 
have done more to develop a knowledge of the peculiar 
character of the western portions of this continent than 



176 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

all previous researches on the subject ; a system of ex- 
change is now in successful operation, connecting in 
friendly relations the cultivators of literature and science 
in this country with their brethren in every part of the 
old world. A large amount of valuable material has been 
collected with regard to the meteorology of the North 
American continent, and a system of observations organ- 
ized which, if properly conducted in future, will tend to 
establish a knowledge of the peculiarities of our climate, 
and to develop the laws of the storms which visit par- 
ticularly the eastern portion of the United States during 
the winter. A series of original researches has also 
been made in the Institution in regard to different 
branches of natural history, and also to portions of phys- 
ical science particularly applicable to economical pur- 
poses. 

In leaving this branch of our theme, we desire to re- 
cord our thanks to the Secretary and the scientific corps of 
the Institution for valuable aid, rendered with marked 
courtesy, in the preparation of this volume. For a de- 
tailed and accurate statement of the various objects of 
interest in the Institution, the reader is referred to a 
pamphlet prepared by Mr. W. J. Rhees, and sold by the 
attentive janitor. 

The grounds surrounding the Smithsonian were laid 
out by A. J. Downing, who, at the time of his death, was 
devising an admirable system of improvements, which 
has not been subsequently prosecuted with much energy. 
A monument to his memory, erected by the American 
Pomological Society is placed conspicuously near the In- 
stitution, bearing the following inscriptions. 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 177 

On the north side : — 

THIS VASE 
Was erected, by his Friends, 

IX MEMORY OF 

ANDREW JACKSON DOWNING, 
Who died July 28, 1852, aged 37 years. 



He was born, and lived, 

And died, upon the Hudson River. 

His life was devoted to the improvement of the national taste in 

rural art, 

an office for which his genius and the natural beauty amidst 

which he lived had fully endowed him. 

His success was as great as his genius ; and for the death of few 

public men. 

was public grief ever more sincere. 

When these grounds were proposed, he was at once 

called to design them ; 

but, before they were completed, he perished in the wreck of the 

steamer Henry Clay. 

His mind was singularly just, penetrating, and original. 

His manners were calm, reserved, and courteous. 

His personal memory 

• belongs to the friends who loved him ; 

his fame to the country which honored and laments him. 

On the west side : — 

I climb the hill from end to end : 

Of all the landscape underneath 

I find no place that do83 not breathe 
Some gracious memory of my friend. 

'T is held that sorrow makes us wise ; 

Yet how much wisdom sleeps with thee, 

Which not alone had guided me, 
But served the seasons that may rise ! 

And doubtless unto thee is given 

A life that bears immortal fruit, 

In such great offices as suit 
The full grown energies of Heaven. 



178 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

And lore will last as pure and whole 

As when he loved me here in time, 

And at the spiritual prime 
Reawaken with the dawning soul. 

On the south side : — 

"The taste of an individual, 

as well as that of a nation, will be in direct proportion to the 

profound sensibility 

with which he perceives the beautiful in natural scenery ." 

" Open wide, therefore, 

the doors of your libraries and picture-galleries, 

all ye true republicans ! 

Build halls where knowledge shall be freely diffused among men, 

and not shut up within the narrow walls of 

narrower institutions. 

Plant spacious parks in your cities, 

and unclose their gates as wide as the gates of morning to the 

whole people. 

[Downing* s Rural Essays. 

On the east side : — 

u Weep no more, 
For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead, 
Sunk though he be beneath the wat'ry floor. 
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, 
And yet anon repairs his drooping head, 
And tricks his beams, and with new spangled ore 
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky. 
So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high 
Through the dear mi°;ht of Him that walked the waves." 

Upon the pedestal of this monument there is an in- 
scription which states that it was erected in September, 
1852, by the American Pomological Society. 

Nearer to the building is a sarcophagus, which Capt. 
J. D. Elliott, U. S. N., under the supposition that it for- 
merly contained the mortal remains of the Emperor 
Alexander Severus, took great pains to obtain ; and 
bringing it to the United States in the frigate Constitu- 
tion, made a formal tender of it, through the officers of 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 179 

the National Institute, to General Jackson, as a fitting re- 
ceptacle for the body of that illustrious President. 

The following correspondence took place, and the 
proposition proving distasteful to General Jackson, the 
sarcophagus remained for a long period in the basement 
of the Patent Office, and is now exposed to the in- 
clemency of the atmosphere in the grounds of the 
Smithsonian Institution : — 

Navy Yard, Philadelphia, April 8, 1845. 

Gentlemen : The interest which the National Insti- 
tute has been pleased to take in the eventual bestowment 
of the remains of the Honorable Andrew Jackson, in the 
sarcophagus which I brought from abroad and deposited 
in your Institute, makes it my business now to commu- 
cate to you a copy of his letter of the 27th ultimo, lately 
received on that subject. With sentiments so congenial to 
his strict republicanism, and in accordance, indeed, with 
the republican feelings common to ourselves, he takes 
the ground of repugnance to connecting his name and 
fame in any way with imperial associations. "We cannot 
but honor the sentiments which have ruled his judgment 
in the case, for they are such as must add to the lustre of 
his character. We subscribe to them ourselves ; and 
while we yield to their force, we may still be permitted 
to continue our regard to the enduring marble, as to an 
ancient and classic relic, a curiosity in itself, and partic- 
ularly in this country, as the. first of its kind seen in our 
western hemisphere. From it we would deduce the 
moral, that while we would disclaim the pride, pomp, 
and circumstances of imperial pageantry, as unfitting 
our institutions and professions, we would sedulously 
cherish the simple republican principles of reposing our 
fame and honors in the hearts and affections of our coun- 
trymen. I have now, in conclusion, to say, that as the 
sarcophagus was originally presented with the sugges- 
tion of using it as above mentioned, I now commit it 



180 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

wholly to the Institute as their own and sole property, 
exempt from any condition. 

I am, very respectfully, yours, &c, 

JESSE DUNCAN ELLIOTT. 

To the President and Directors of the National Institute at Wash- 
ington. 

Hermitage, March 27th, 1845. 

Dear Sir : Your letter of the 18th instant, together 
with the copy of the proceedings of the National Insti- 
tute, furnished me by their corresponding secretary, on 
the presentation by you of the sarcophagus for their ac- 
ceptance, on condition it shall be preserved, and in honor 
of my memory, have been received, and are now be- 
fore me. Although laboring under great debility and 
affliction, from a severe attack from which I may not 
recover, I raise my pen and endeavor to reply. The 
steadiness of my nerves may perhaps lead you to conclude 
my prostration of strength is not so great as here expressed. 
Strange as it may appear, my nerves are as steady as 
they were forty years gone by, whilst from debility and 
affliction I am gasping for breath. I have read the whole 
proceedings of the presentation by you of the sarcophagus, 
and the resolutions passed by the Board of Directors, so 
honorable to my fame, with sensations and feelings more 
easily to be conjectured than by me expressed. The 
whole proceedings call for my most grateful thanks, which 
are hereby tendered to you, and through you to the Presi- 
dent of the National Institute. But with the warmest 
sensations that can inspire a grateful heart, I must decline 

ACCEPTING THE HONOR INTENDED TO BE BESTOWED. I 

cannot consent that my mortal body shall be laid in a 
repository prepared for an emperor or a king — my re- 
publican feelings and principles forbid it — the simplicity of 
our system of government forbids it. Every monument 
erected to perpetuate the memory of our heroes and 
statesmen ought to bear evidence of the economy and 
simplicity of our republican institutions, and the plainness 
of our republican citizens, who are the sovereigns of our 



NATION AI. ESTABLISHMENTS. 1SI 

glorious Union, and whose virtue is to perpetuate it. 
True virtue cannot exist where pomp and parade are the 
governing passions. It can only dwell with the people, 
the great laboring and producing classes, that form the 
bone and sinew of our confederacy. For these reasons I 
cannot accept the honor you and the President and Di- 
rectors of the National Institute intended to bestow r . I 
cannot permit my remains to be the first in these United 
States to be deposited in a sarcophagus made for an em- 
peror or king. I again repeat, please accept for yourself, 
and convey to the President and Directors of the National 
Institute, my profound respects for the honor you and they 
intended to bestows 

I have prepared an humble depository for my mortal 
body, beside that w^herein lies my beloved wife, w r here, 
without any pomp or parade, I have requested, when my 
God calls me to sleep w r ith my fathers, to be laid, for both 
of us there to remain until the last trumpet sounds to call 
the dead to judgment ; when we, I hope, shall rise together, 
clothed with that heavenly body promised to all who be- 
lieve in our glorious Redeemer, w r ho died for us that we 
might live, and by whose atonement I hope for a blessed 
immortality. 

I am, with great respect, your friend and fellow-citizen, 

ANDREW JACKSON. 

To Hon. J. D„ Elliott, United States Navy. 

WASHINGTON ARMORY. 

In the act making appropriations for the civil and 
diplomatic expenses of government, passed by the second 
session of the 33d Congress, and approved March 3d, 
1855, a clause w^as inserted appropriating $30,000 for the 
construction, on such site, in a central position on the 
public ground, in the city of Washington, as might be 
selected by the President, of a suitable building for the 
care and preservation of the ordnance, arms and accoutre- 
9 



* 



182 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

ments of the United States, required for the use of the 
volunteers and militia of the District of Columbia, the 
care and preservation of military trophies, and for the 
deposit of newly-invented and model arms. To this legis- 
lation the public are indebted for the grim and solid 
building on the Mall, between Sixth and Seventh streets 
west, near the Smithsonian Institution. 

UNITED STATES ARSENAL. 

The United States Arsenal in the District of Columbia 
is located in that portion of the city known as " Green- 
leaf's Point," a position chosen for its stratagetic impor- 
tance, as it is near the confluence of the Anacostia and 
Potomac rivers, where the largest class of shipping can 
receive such munitions of war as national exigencies may 
require to be despatched. The buildings were commenced 
under the superintendence of Colonel Bomford, in 1814, 
and besides the Construction Department, of great interest 
to the student of military science, there is a room of 
models, in which the visitor will find death-dealing imple- 
ments in such number and variety as only the Tower of 
London can surpass. 

PENITENTIARY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

By provision of the act of Congress approved May 
20th, 1826, the Penitentiary of the District of Columbia 
is cojnmitted to the superintendence of the Secretary of 
the Department of Interior. By an act passed February 
25th, 1831, the national legislature decreed that the Presi- 
dent of the United States should be authorized and 
required to appoint three commissioners for the purpose 
of selecting a proper site in the District of Columbia on 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 183 

which to erect a penitentiary, and $40,000 were appro- 
priated for the purchase of such site, and for the construc- 
tion of the necessary buildings. Congress subsequently 
appropriated, on February 25th, 1831, $36,360 for the 
completion of the buildings, and, at various periods since, 
liberal appropriations have been made towards the sup- 
port of this unfortunately necessary establishment. 

MILITARY ASYLUM. 

On one of the most beautiful sites in the vicinity of 
the city, the traveler finds an edifice of singular beauty, 
surrounded by grounds that could only be kept in such 
order by the authorities and subordinates of an " old 
soldier's home." For this beautiful edifice-, the patriot 
and the old soldier are largely indebted to the foresight 
and philanthropy of General Winfield Scott. Congress, 
by the act of March 3d, 1851, provided for the establish- 
ment of a Military* Asylum, for the relief and support of 
invalid and disabled soldiers of the United States. The 
Board of Commissioners appointed under the provisions 
of this act, reported December 31st, 1851, that they had 
secured temporary places for the reception of such invalids 
near New Orleans and at Washington, and had purchased 
a site in the District of Columbia for the permanent 
establishment of so important an institution. The Mili- 
tary Asylum is governed and controlled by a Board of 
Commissioners, consisting of the General-in-Chief, Gen- 
erals commanding the eastern and western divisions, 
Quartermaster-General, Commissary-General, Paymaster- 
General, Adjutant-General, and Surgeen-General of the 
United States Army. The officers in immediate charge 
of the Asylum are the Governor, Deputy-Governor, Sec- 



184 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

retary, and Treasurer, who are selected, by the Board of 
Commissioners, from the officers of the army. 

The classes of persons entitled to the benefits of the 
asylum are : — 1. All soldiers and discharged soldiers of 
the army of the United States who may have served hon- 
estly and faithfully for twenty years. 2. All soldiers and 
discharged soldiers of the regular army, and of the vol- 
unteers, who have served in the war with Mexico, and 
were disabled by disease or wounds incurred in that serv- 
ice, and in the line of their duty, and who are by such dis- 
ability incapable of further military service. This class 
includes that" portion of the marine corps which served 
in the war against Mexico. 3. Every soldier and dis- 
charged soldier who may have contributed to the funds of 
the Military Asylum, since the passage of the act to found 
the same, approved March 3, 1851, according to the re- 
strictions and provisions thereof, and who may have been 
disabled by disease or wounds incurred in the service and 
in the line of his duty, rendering him incapable of military 
service. 4. Every pensioner (whether a regular or vol- 
unteer), on account of wounds or disability incurred in 
the military service of the United States, though not a 
contributor to the funds of the institution, who shall 
transfer his pension to the Military Asylum during the 
period he voluntarily continues to receive its benefits. 
No provision is made for the wives and children of 
the inmates of the Asylum, as such relatives are not 
recognized by law ; but to such invalids as can prose- 
cute a trade or handicraft, facilities are afforded for so 
doing. No deserter, mutineer, or habitual drunkard can 
be admitted without such evidence of subsequent good 
service, good conduct, and reformation of character, as the 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 185 

commissioners shall deem sufficient to authorize admis- 
sion ; nor do the provisions of the act to found the asylum 
apply to any soldier in the regular or volunteer service 
who shall have been convicted of felony, or other disgrace- 
ful or infamous crime of a civil nature, subsequent to his 
original admission into the service of the United States. 
All discharged soldiers (regulars, marines, or volunteers) 
included in any of the above classes, when applying for 
admission, must state the company and regiment in which 
they last served, or the name of the captain and colonel, 
length of service, and whether a pensioner or not, directly 
to the Secretary of the Board of Commissioners, Wash- 
ington, D. C, who, in reply, will inform applicants of the 
decision of the board relative to claims ; and when favor- 
able, will furnish the means allowed by the board for the 
transportation of each from his home to the nearest 
branch of the asylum. Invalid soldiers, entitled to pen- 
sions for disability incurred prior to the Mexican war, 
and who have served for a period less than twenty 
years, are required, by the terms of the act founding 
this institution, to contribute such pensions to the funds 
of the institution, during the period they may avail 
themselves of its benefits ; those who have served twenty 
years and upwards do not contribute their pensions to 
the fund of the institution. 

Such invalid soldiers as receive pensions for disability 
incurred during the late war with Mexico, being contri- 
butors to the funds of the Military Asylum, through the 
contribution levied on the city of Mexico, retain their pen- 
sions, as do all who may receive pensions for disabilities 
incurred since the passage of the act approved March 3, 
1851. 



186 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

Beside certain prize-money, and some other military- 
sources, the Asylum derives a revenue from the contribu- 
tion of twenty-five cents a month from each of the pros- 
pective benificiaries in the United States Army. 

COLUMBIAN INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF, 
DUMB, AND BLIND. 

This philanthropic institution is situated in the north- 
eastern part of the city, or rather in a suburb, known as 
" Kendall Green," in close proximity with the National 
Printing Office and the church of St. Aloysius. The best 
proof of the efficiency of its conductors and the import- 
ance of its objects is afforded in the following statement 
of Hon. J. Thompson, Secretary of Interior in 1860. 
The number of pupils taught during the year ending the 
30th of June last was thirty, of which twenty-four were 
mutes and six blind. The receipts of the treasurer were 
$6,509 26, and the payments by the superintendent were 
$6,895 60, the excess being met by a balance in his hands 
on the 30th of June, 1859. The State of Maryland has 
recently made provision for placing pupils in the institu- 
tion, and accessions have been received and others are ex- 
pected from that quarter. Its buildings and grounds are 
found not to be sufficiently capacious for the attainment of 
all that is desired in giving instruction in manual labor 
and the mechanic arts. The reports of the officers do not 
show the rate of compensation required by the directors 
from pay-pupils, and those placed in it by the State of 
Maryland, but the amount received from the United 
States during the year by the treasurer having been 
$5,759 26, supporting and educating about twenty indi- 
gent pupils from this District, the rate of cost is shown 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 187 

to have been $287 96 for each, which, at this early stage 
of the history and progress of the institution, may be re- 
garded as very moderate indeed. This result is only at- 
tainable because the management of the funds is intrusted 
to judicious men, who, from motives of Christian benevo- 
lence, not only conduct its affairs without cost, but are 
themselves constantly making private contributions to its 
resources. In this state of the case, it appears to be a 
dictate of wisdom, as well as benevolence, that the insti- 
tution should be favorably regarded by Congress. 

The institution is sustained by appropriations from 
Congress, from the State of Maryland, and by private 
contributions. It is open to visitors every week-day 
(except Saturday), between the hours of 9 A. M. and 
3 P.M. 

GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE. 

In 1855, Congress enacted a law providing for the 
establishment of an Institution to be known as " The 
Government Hospital for the Insane," and defining its 
duties to be " the most humane care and enlightened cura- 
tive treatment of the insane of the army and navy of the 
United States and of the District of Columbia." A board 
of visitors, who are to receive no compensation, is ap- 
pointed by the President of the United States. The Sec- 
retary of the Interior is charged with the appointment of 
a superintendent, who must be a well-educated physician, 
possessing competent experience in the care and treatment 
of the insane, and is required to reside on the premises. 
Private patients belonging to the District may be received 
into the asylum, by paying the charges appointed by the 
Board of Visitors. 



183 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

To this legislation the country is indebted for the mag- 
nificent building dedicated to the relief of the various unfor- 
tunates who require its assistance. The location is beauti- 
ful and commanding, and the accommodations are ample 
for all the patients that are entitled to admission. The num- 
ber of inmates has increased from year to year. On the 
first of July, 1860, there were from the army, 24 ; from 
from the navy, 19; from the Soldiers' Home, 4; and 
from civil life, 120— total, 167. 

The grounds around the buildings should be laid off 
and improved, and the entire tract of land substantially 
inclosed ; and for these purposes some additional appro- 
priations will be needed. The institution has heretofore 
been managed with great efficiency, and bids fair soon to 
become a model of its kind in every respect. 



AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 

This society occupies a handsome building, of gray 
freestone, with iron casings and mouldings, recently 
erected on the south side of Pennsylvania avenue, at the 
corner of 4| street. The Colonization Society was estab- 
lished December 21st, 1816, and chartered by the legisla- 
ture of Maryland, March 23d, 1837. The government is 
vested in a board of directors, composed of the life-direc- 
tors and delegates from the different State societies. The 
republic of Liberia, on the west coast of Africa, has been 
formed by the labors of this society. It owns a territory 
extending about five hundred miles along the coast, and 
indefinitely in the interior, which was purchased from the 
natives, who are permitted still to reside upon it, and to 
become citizens of the republic when sufficiently civilized. 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 189 

About 200,000 of them reside within the limits of the 
republic and under its government. 

The society has removed from the United States to 
Liberia 10,545 persons. The present population (Ameri- 
can) is not more than this number. The independence 
of Liberia has been recognized by several of the leading 
European nations. From its beginning up to January 1st, 
1861, the society received from all sources $2,247,407. 

UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

This society claims and is entitled to rank with the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England and the Imperial 
Agricultural Society of France. The importance of the in- 
terests over w^hich it watches was indicated to the fore- 
sight of Washington, as is evidenced by his letter to Sir 
John Sinclair, under date of July 20th, 1794, wherein he 
says : " It will be some time, I fear, before an agricultu- 
ral society, with congressional aid, will be established in 
this country. We must walk, as other countries have, 
before we can run ; smaller societies must prepare the 
way for greater ; but, with the lights before us, I hope we 
shall not be so slow in maturation as older nations have 
been. An attempt, as you will perceive by the inclosed 
outlines of a plan, is making to establish a State society 
in Pennsylvania, for agricultural improvements. If it 
succeeds, it will be a step in the ladder ; at present, it is 
too much in embryo to decide upon the result." 

Two years afterward, the same eminent authority made 
the following statement to Congress : " It will not be 
doubted that, with reference to either individual or na- 
tional welfare, agriculture is of primary importance. In 
proportion as nations advance in population and other 



190 WASHINGTON DESCKIBEP. 

circumstances of maturity, this becomes apparent." On 
the 14th of June, 1852, a National Agricultural Conven- 
vention was held at the Smithsonian Institution, in the 
City of Washington, under a call issued by the following 
agricultural societies, at the instance of the Massachusetts 
Board of Agriculture : The Massachusetts State Board of 
Agriculture ; Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society ; 
Maryland State Agricultural Society ; New York State 
Agricultural Society; Southern Central Agricultural So- 
ciety ; Ohio State Board of Agriculture ; American Insti- 
tute, New York ; Massachusetts Society for the Promotion 
of Agriculture ; Indiana State Board of Agriculture ; New 
Hampshire Agricultural Society ; Vermont Agricultural 
Society ; and the Rhode Island Society for the Encour- 
agement of American Industry. This convention resulted 
in the formation of the United States Agricultural Soci- 
ety, w T hose permanent office is now in the City of Wash- 
ington. 

• 

NATIONAL PRINTING OFFICE. 

In 1860, Congress authorized the Superintendent of 
Public Printing to negotiate for the purchase or erection 
of a printing office for the public use. After making the 
most diligent inquiry, the Superintendent came to the 
conclusion that his official trust would be best discharged 
by the purchase of the vast establishment owned by Mr. 
C. Wendell. In pursuance of the instruction of Congress, 
he agreed to pay Mr. Wendell $135,000 for his printing 
office, which is equal in extent to any in the world. This 
bargain received the indorsement of both branches of 
Congre-ss in the second session of the thirty-sixth Con- 
gress. The immense building which has thus become 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 191 

national, and in which may be found the most recent and 
perfect machinery belonging to the typographical art, is 
directly north of the Capitol, and is generally the first 
remarkable object observed by persons entering the city 
on the Baltimore Railroad. 

WASHINGTON ART ASSOCIATION. 

The Constitution of this Association provides for its 
nationality by declaring that artisans of every profession 
and vocation, throughout the Union, who are interested 
in the welfare and honor of their country and in the cause 
of art, shall be eligible to election as members of the 
Association. The volume of the Constitution contains a 
long list of members' signatures — names of men eminent 
in every department of art, science, literature, instruction, 
invention, jurisprudence, and statesmanship; names also 
of noble and accomplished women. It aims at the devel- 
opment and fostering of American genius, and has pro- 
posed to itself an immense task. 

THE EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF JACKSON. 

The Jackson Monument Committee were authorized, 
by resolution of Congress, dated August 11, 1848, to 
receive the brass guns captured by Jackson at Pensacola, 
" to be used as material for the construction of a monu- 
ment to that distinguished patriot ; " the monument to be 
erected on such portion of the public grounds in the city 
of Washington as might be designated by the President; 
and, by acts of July 29 and September 20, 1850, other 
condemned brass guns were also granted for the purpose, 
with the privilege of exchange. 

Clark Mills was appointed to execute the statue, and 



192 WASHINGTON DESCKIBED. 

immediately proceeded to model a design, for which pur- 
pose he procured and trained the finest breed and build of 
horses, and made thorough study of the anatomy and pose 
of the animal, sparing no labor or care in arriving at the 
precise nature of his subject. He erected his own foun- 
dry, being a natural mechanic, and cast the statue him- 
self. 

President Fillmore selected the site for the statue, 
when completed, in the centre of the square in front of 
the Executive Mansion, where it was inaugurated, January 
8, 1853, the anniversary of Jackson's victory at New 
Orleans, in 1815. 

General Jackson is represented in the exact military 
costume worn by him, — with cocked hat in hand, saluting 
his troops. The charger, a noble specimen of the animal, 
with all the fire and spirit of a Bucephalus, is in a rearing 
posture, poised upon his hind feet, with no other stay 
than the balance of gravity, and the bolts pinning the feet 
to the pedestal. The work is colossal, the figure of Jack- 
son being eight feet in height, and that of the horse in 
proportion. The whole stands upon a pyramidal pedes- 
tal, of white marble, seven feet in height, at the base of 
which are planted four brass six-pound guns, taken by 
the hero at New Orleans. The cost of the statue to the 
government, including the pedestal and iron railing, was 
$28,500. 

THE EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF WASHINGTON. 

Congress passed an act, as early as 1783, authorizing 
the erection of an equestrian statue of Washington at the 
seat of government, and the minister to France was em- 
powered to engage an artist for the work to be done, in 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 193 

Paris. Houdon was chosen, and made his estimates of 
the expense, which he forwarded, by Dr. Franklin, to this 
government. The work was not executed, and the orig- 
inal idea, of an equestrian statue as a national memorial, 
was changed, in 1832, to that of the obelisk now in course 
of construction on the Mall. 

By act of Congress, passed January 25, 1853, the sum 
of $50,000 was appropriated, " to enable the President to 
employ Clark Mills to erect, at the City of Washington, 
a colossal equestrian statue of George Washington, at 
such place on the public grounds as shall be designated 
by the President." Mr. Mills proceeded accordingly to 
execute the statue, which was inaugurated upon the site 
selected by President Buchanan, in the open space called 
the Circle, on Pennsylvania avenue, near Georgetown. 
The inauguration ceremony took place on the anniversary 
of Washington's birth-day, February 22, 1860. 

Washington is represented as he appeared at the bat- 
tle of Princeton, where, after attempting several times to 
rally his troops, he put spurs to his horse and dashed up 
in the face of the enemy's battery. His terror-stricken 
charger recoils before the blaze of artillery, while the 
balls tear up the earth beneath him ; but Washington, 
calm and collected, evinces all the dignity and bravery of 
the hero, and the firmness of the commander-in-chief, 
believing himself an instrument in the hands of Provi- 
dence to work out the great problem of American inde- 
pendence. 

WASHINGTON AQUEDUCT. 

This vast enterprise has cost the nation nearly three 
millions of dollars. Some of the difficulties of its con- 



194 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

struction may be inferred from the following official 
description of the country through which it passes : 
" The traveler ascending the banks of the Potomac from 
Georgetown to the Great Falls, would conclude that 
a more unpromising region for the construction of an 
aqueduct could not be found. Supported by high walls 
against the face of jagged and vertical precipices, in con- 
tinual danger of being undermined by the foaming torrent 
which boils below, the Canal (the Chesapeake and Ohio) 
is a monument of the energy and daring of our engineers. 
The route appears to be occupied, and no mode of bring- 
ing in the water, except by iron pipes secured to the rocks, 
or laid in the bed of the canal, seems practicable. Such 
were my own impressions ; and though I knew that in 
this age, with money, any achievement of engineering was 
possible, I thought the survey would be needed only to 
demonstrate by figures and measures the extravagance of 
such a work. But when the levels were applied to the 
ground, I found, to my surprise and gratification, that the 
rocky precipices and difficult passages were nearly all 
below the line which, allowing a uniform grade, would 
naturally be selected for our conduit ; and that, instead of 
demonstrating the extravagance of the proposal, it became 
my duty to devise a work presenting no considerable dif- 
ficulties, and affording no opportunities for the exhibition 
of any triumphs of science or skill." 

The conduit is 9 feet in dimension, and discharges 
67,596,400 gallons in twenty -four hours. Some idea of 
the magnitude of the enterprise may be formed by com- 
paring the statement above given with the fact that the 
Croton aqueduct supplies 27,000,000 gallons, and Phila- 
delphia and Boston are only respectively guaranteed 



NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 195 

15,000,000 and 10,176,570 gallons, during- the same pe- 
riod. 

There are, in all, eleven tunnels, some of them many 
hundred feet in length, and six bridges. The largest of 
the bridges is one of the most stupendous achievements 
of the kind in this country. It spans a small tributary 
of the Potomac, called the Cabin John creek, by a single 
arch, 220 feet in span and 100 feet high. The receiving 
reservoir is formed by throwing a dam across a small 
stream known as the Powder Mill or Little Falls Branch. 
The dam is of pounded earth, and floods above 50 acres 
making a reservoir of irregular shape, containing, at a 
level of 140 feet above high tide, 82,521,500 gallons. 
The water leaves it a distance of 3,000 feet from the 
point where it enters, and, in slowly passing across 
this pool, which deepens to 30 or 40 feet near the exit, 
it deposits most of its sediment. The Powder Mill 
Branch supplies two or three millions of gallons of pure 
water daily to the reservoir. The great falls of the Po- 
tomac, from whence the supply of water is obtained, are 
19 miles distant. 



CHAPTER VH. 

ETIQUETTE. 



Politeness and good breeding are the true foundations 
of social etiquette, and are the same everywhere ; yet 
fashion and position will maintain a controlling influence. 
At the seat of government, a conventional form of social 
intercourse seems absolutely indispensable. The idea 
that there is no rank at our court, — that it is inimical to 
republican institutions, and that there can, therefore, be 
no precedence, — has long been exploded by actual ex- 
perience. The position occupied by officials, under the 
Constitution, gives them necessarily a certain rank, ac- 
cording to the importance and nature of the office, the 
length of term, and the age, required by law, of the in- 
cumbent. Some officials are permanent residents of 
Washington, while others remain but a portion of the 
year. Certain classes are numerous, and others are few 
in number. The time of some is almost entirely en- 
grossed, while that of others is more at their command. 
All these circumstances tend to vary the relation between 
the members of this temporary form of society. Repre- 
sentatives of foreign courts are required, by the laws of 
international courtesy, to conform to the etiquette of the 
court at which they are sent to reside, and if there is no 
established form, they find themselves at a loss in respect 
of their deportment. 



ETIQUETTE. 197 

In the early days of our government, foreign customs 
and forms were tacitly introduced, and although the Jef- 
fersonian dogma of equality was maintained in theory, 
yet the court etiquette of that period was adhered to with 
far more dignity and aristocratic precision than exists at 
present. An order like that of the Cincinnati, would 
scarcely be tolerated now, although, in the infancy of our 
government, Washington graced the order as its first 
president. The avowed object of the order was to estab- 
lish a rank, without violating the constitution, which pro- 
hibits Congress and the States from granting any title of 
nobility. The following articles were agreed upon during 
the administration of Washington, and were endorsed by 
Jefferson : — 

In order to bring the members of society together in 
the first instance, the custom of the country has established 
that residents shall pay the first visit to strangers, and, 
among strangers, first comers to later comers, foreign and 
domestic ; the character of stranger ceasing after the first 
visits. To this rule there is a single exception. Foreign 
ministers, from the necessity of making themselves known, 
pay the first visit to the [cabinet] ministers of the nation, 
which is returned. 

When brought together in society, all are perfectly 
equal, whether foreign or domestic, titled or untitled, in 
or out of office. 

All other observances are but exemplifications of these 
two principles. 

The families of foreign ministers, arriving at the seat 
of government, receive the first visit from those of the 
national ministers, as from all other residents. 

Members of the legislature and of the judiciary, inde- 
pendent of their offices, have a right as strangers to re- 
ceive the first visit. 

No title being admitted here, those of foreigners give 
no precedence. 



198 . WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

Differences of grade among the diplomatic members 
gives no precedence. 

At public ceremonies, to which the government invites 
the presence of foreign ministers and their families, a con- 
venient seat or station will be provided for them, with 
any other strangers invited and the families of the national 
ministers, each taking place as they arrive, and without 
any precedence. 

To maintain the principle of equality, or of pele mele, 
and prevent the growth of precedence out of courtesy, the 
members of the executive will practice at their own 
houses, and recommend an adherence to the ancient usage 
of the country, of gentlemen in mass giving precedence to 
the ladies in mass, in passing from one apartment where 
they are assembled into another. 

This code of equality was too republican and arbitrary 
in theory to meet the necessities of the case. The land- 
marks set by honest pride, to distinguish real inequalities 
of position, are not so easily obliterated. It is impossible, 
even, to contravene the established usages of foreign courts, 
by reversing the relations existing by law, birth, merit, 
and concession, between foreigners residing here in a 
representative capacity. The consequence has been that 
natural distinctions have been maintained, but with some 
evidence of a disposition on the part of certain classes to 
deny others rights which they have no grounds to claim 
themselves. During President Monroe's first term, there 
was much excitement in the official coteries upon this 
subject, which created some hard feeling, as well as many 
facetious remarks. At the commencement of the session 
of 1819-20, John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, 
addressed a letter on the subject to Daniel D. Tompkins, 
Vice-President, wherein he stated that he had been in- 
formed by Senators " of a minute of a rule agreed upon, 



ETIQUETTE. 199 

not officially, but privately, by the members of the Senate 
of the first Congress, that the Senators of the United States 
paid the first visit to no person except the President of 
the United States." He repudiated the claim o.n the part 
of the Senators, and expressed his intention to make no 
first calls as being due from him or his family. The 
letter caused some severe animadversions upon the 
writer's aristocratic views of society, but the etiquette 
of the official circles assumed the forms naturally pre- 
scribed by the rank and circumstances of the parties 
interested. There was, lately, some little dissension and 
confusion regarding the proper forms, but all parties were 
consulted, and the nature of their rights carefully con- 
sidered, with a view to the peculiarities of their residence, 
number, and legal rank. The code was prepared ad- 
visedly, and the vexed question adjusted in the revival 
and establishment of the old usages and customs, which 
have been founded upon reason and natural privilege, and 
which have generally prevailed since the foundation of the 
government. 

At the commencement of Washington's first term of 
administration, he addressed letters to Messrs. Adams 
and Hamilton, asking their attention and advice upon 
certain points of etiquette touching the deportment of 
the President of the United States. A medium between 
the requirements of the dignity of the office and repub- 
lican equality was resolved upon, and has remained the 
rule. 

THE CODE. 

The President. — Business calls are received at all times 
and hours, when the President is unengaged. The morn- 



200 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

ing hours are preferred. Special days and evenings are 
assigned, each season, for calls of respect, — one morning 
and evening a week being usually assigned for this 
purpose. 

Receptions are held, during the winter season, gene- 
ally once a week, between eight and ten o'clock in the 
evening, at which time guests are expected in full dress, 
and are presented by the usher. 

The President holds public receptions on the first of 
January and the fourth of July, when the Diplomatic 
Corps present themselves in court costume, and the 
officers of the Army and Navy in full uniform. The 
Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the govern- 
ment are received between the hours of eleven and 
twelve, after which, the Diplomatic Corps, officers of the 
Army and Navy, and civilians en masse. 

The President accepts no invitations to dinner, and 
makes no calls or visits of ceremony ; but is at liberty to 
visit, without ceremony, at his pleasure. 

An invitation to dinner at the President's must be 
accepted, in writing, and a previous engagement cannot 
take precedence. 

The address of the Executive, in conversation, is, Mr. 
President. 

The Vice-President. — A visit from the Vice-President 
is due the President, on the meeting of Congress. He is 
entitled to the first visit from all others, which he may 
return by card or in person. 

The Supreme Court. — The Judges call upon the Presi- 
dent and Vice-President annually, upon the opening of the 
court, and on the first day of January. 

The Cabinet. — Members of the President's Cabinet 



ETIQUETTE. 201 

call upon the President on New Year's day and the 
fourth of July. First calls are also due from them, by 
card or in person, to the Vice-President, Judges of the 
Supreme Court, Senators, and the Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, on the meeting of Congress. 

The Senate, — Senators call, in person, upon the Presi- 
dent and Vice-President, on the meeting of Congress and 
first day of January ; and upon the President on the 
fourth of July, if Congress is in session. They also call 
in person or by card, upon the Judges of the Supreme 
Court, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
on the meeting of Congress. 

The Speaker of the House of Representatives. — The 
Speaker calls upon the President on the meeting of 
Congress, first day of January, and the fourth of July, if 
Congress is in session. The first call is also due from 
him to the Vice-President, on the meeting of Congress. 

The House of Representatives. — Members of the 
House of Representatives call, in person, upon the Presi- 
dent, on the first day of January, and upon the Speaker 
of the House at the opening of each session. They also 
call, by card or in person, upon the President on the 
fourth of July, if Congress is in session, and upon the 
President, Vice-President, Judges of the Supreme Court, 
Cabinet officers, Senators, Speaker of the House, and 
foreign Ministers, soon after the opening of each session 
of Congress. 

Foreign Ministers. — The Diplomatic Corps call upon 
the President on the first day of January, and upon the 
Vice-President, Cabinet officers, Judges of the Supreme 
Court, Senators, and Speaker of the House, by card or in 
person, on the first opportunity after presenting their 



202 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

credentials to the President. They also make an annual 
call of ceremony, by card or in person, upon the Vice- 
President, Judges of the Supreme Court, Senators, 
and Speaker of the House, soon after the meeting of 
Congress. 

The Court of Claims. — The Judges of the Court of 
Claims call, in person, upon the President, on the first of 
January and the fourth of July. They also make first 
visits to Cabinet officers, and the Diplomatic Corps, and 
call, by card or in person, upon the Judges of the Su- 
preme Court, Senators, Speaker and members of the 
House, soon after the meeting of Congress. 

The Families of Officials. — The rules which govern 
officials are also applicable to their families, in determin- 
ing the conduct of social intercourse. 



CHAPTER YIIL 

CITY OF WASHINGTON. 



In order to preserve unity in the discussion of our 
theme, it became necessary to record the most important 
events in the history of the city under the caption of His- 
tory of the Seat of Government (Chapter II.) ; by turning 
to page 43, therefore, the reader will find what in strict- 
ness may be regarded as a portion of the present chapter. 

After the conclusion of peace between the United States 
and Great Britain, in 1814, the necessity for the rebuilding, 
in the city of Washington, of the edifices of the national 
government was introduced into the deliberations of 
the American Congress. An effort to remove the 
seat of government from its present location was intro- 
duced, but met with the fate of similar and subsequent 
propositions, and resulted in a signal failure. From that 
time onward, except during the periods of excitement 
caused by prospective changes of political power growing 
out of several presidential elections, the value of real es- 
tate in the city has gradually increased. Physically, the 
city has constantly improved, from the grading of streets, 
and consequent drainage of swamps and pools, until it 
has become one of the most salubrious cities in the 
United States. At the commencement of its corporate 
history, Washington was governed by a board of Com- 



204 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

missioners ; next by a Superintendent, who was the proto- 
type of the Commissioner of Public Buildings ; then by a 
Mayor appointed by the President ; and afterwards, under 
a charter conceived in a more liberal spirit, by a Mayor 
elected by the people every two years, and by two 
branches of the municipal council. 

We feel compelled, by common dictates of justice, to 
explode the fallacy of two ideas which have been generally 
entertained. It is supposed that Washington, or the 
residents of Washington, have spurned the moral laws 
which govern all well-ordered and Christian communities ; 
and the feeblest attempts at wit ever perpetrated have 
attempted to cast ridicule upon the magnificent propor- 
tions of a political capital, which was designed upon a 
scale drawn from the potential necessities of a nation w r hose 
greatness even the present generation has only faintly con- 
ceived. It is well to bear in mind that the march of the 
city in population and magnificence has kept steady lock- 
step with the advance of national power and population. 
With regard to morals, it is not to be denied that Wash- 
ington is the abode of a legion of foul vices ; but this is a 
matter, not of reproach to its permanent residents, but of 
shame to every patriot ; and will be cured when The Peo- 
ple of every large city, and of each remote hamlet, shall 
have acquired a proper reverence for their liberties, a due 
conviction of the sanctity of their political duties, and 
shall have determined to exercise a vigilant and inflexible 
purpose to commit their interests to none but the wisest, 
best, and purest of their fellow-citizens. When this shall 
have been attained, Washington will cease to bear an un- 
deserved reproach, and will have less cause to regret the 
presence of the camp-followers of Congress. 



CITY OF WASHINGTON. 205 

THE CITY HALL. 

This imposing building, situated on Judiciary Square, 
— which is bounded on the east by Fourth street, on the 
west by Fifth street, on the north by H street, and on the 
south by the junction of D street and Louisiana and Indiana 
avenues, — was originally proposed to be erected from the 
proceeds of a lottery. The cost of its erection has been 
shared in a near equality between the city and federal gov- 
ernment, and as the latter has had an equal use of its ac- 
commodations, it is surprising that Congress has exhibited 
so marked a reluctance to aid in the completion of the 
building. It will scarcely be credited that the titles to 
property in the District of Columbia, bills of sale, mort- 
gages, and other records, of vast public and private im- 
portance, are daily and nightly exposed to the pilfering, 
or confided to the honor, of any scoundrel who may choose 
to enter a public, unguarded passage-way, and decide 
whether or not to mutilate them. The Commissioner of 
Public Buildings has repeatedly called the attention of Con- 
gress to the necessity, upon the ground of national accom- 
modation, for the extension of the City Hall and national 
court-rooms ; and yet the federal legislature has not seen 
fit to make the necessary appropriation. In its present con- 
tracted space, the City Hall contains the office of the Mayor, 
the rooms used by the Board of Aldermen and City Coun- 
cil, the various local courts of the District, and the Crim- 
inal and Circuit Courts of the United States held in the 
District. The extension of the building is imperatively 
demanded by the public exigencies ; and, when finished, it 
will be one of the finest architectural adornments within 
the city limits. 
10 



206 "WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

WASHINGTON INFIRMARY. 

Immediately north of the City Hall is the Washing- 
ton Infirmary, in which government patients, to the nutn- 
ber of nearly a thousand annually, receive the benefit of 
the best medical treatment. Besides these, there are 
other patients from public and private sources. The 
nursing of the sick is confided to the charitable devotees 
known as Sisters of Charity, but no sectarian predomi- 
nance is recognized, either in the requisites for admis- 
sion, or the spiritual advisement of those who are placed 
in charge of this most laudable institution. 

COUNTY JAIL. 

This miserable structure, still northward of the Wash- 
ington Infirmary, is as deficient in all the interior requi- 
sites for enabling its faithful officers to perform their 
duties with an equal regard to the demands of the law 
and of humanity, as it is devoid of the exterior embel- 
lishments to permit us to describe its architecture. Un- 
questionably, a better building, in a better situation, must 
soon replace this paltry structure. In the meanwhile, 
the security of those whom the law directs to be kept in 
confinement, depends less upon the building in which 
they reside, than upon the most remarkable vigilance 
and fidelity of their jailers. 

CORPORATION ALMS-HOUSE. 

The handsome edifice dedicated to corporate charity, 
and the restraint and reformation of petty offenders, occu- 
pies an elevated site, east of the Capitol, and is a rare 
specimen of the right building in the right place. Its 
architecture is pleasing and durable, without unnecessary. 



CITY OF WASHINGTON. 207 

expense; and a visit to it will quicken' the heart and 
gratify the taste. 

WASHINGTON HOTELS. 

The hotels of Washington have submitted to a great 
amount of undeserved abuse from abroad, but they pre- 
sent more features of interest than any similar establish- 
ments in the country ; for here you meet, not only 
those who come to buy and sell, and to discuss the rise 
or fall of stocks, but those whose traffic is with national 
affairs. The Washington hotels are generally well kept, 
and if not able to fully accommodate the occasional in- 
flux of thousands, it should be remembered that they are 
built and maintained, not for transient inroads of the 
masses, but for the accommodation of an average num- 
ber of guests. 

National Hotel, — This is the largest hotel in the city, 
and one of the largest in the country. It is situated on 
Pennsylvania avenue, at the corner of Sixth street, and 
occupies the entire depth of the block. The old National 
is the stamping-ground of politicians, and the grand centre 
of political intrigue. Its crowded halls and gay saloons 
and parlors are proverbial among old frequenters of the 
seat of government ; while its proximity to the Capitol, 
and excellent management, render it the most favored 
hotel in Washington. 

Willards' Hotel. — This fine edifice is situated on the 
corner of Pennsylvania avenue and Fourteenth street, 
and extends to F street, occupying about half of the en- 
tire block. The architecture of the building is good, es- 
pecially that of the modern portion. 

Brown's Hotel. — This hotel has a fine marble front on 



208 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

Pennsylvania avenue, and completes our list of the lead- 
ing hotels. There are many other excellent establish- 
ments for the entertainment of visitors, but as we are not 
preparing a directory, we must leave the subject. 

CHURCHES. 

There is little to be said of the ecclesiastical architec- 
ture of Washington ; it is so generally bad that to par- 
ticularize one or two decent buildings would be to cast a 
Jieavy odium upon all the others. As there is nothing to 
be said of the buildings, we shall content ourselves with 
indicating their locality. 

Roman Catholic. — St. Patrick's, F street north, near 
10th street west. St. Matthew's, H street north and 
15th street west. St. Mary's (German), 5th street west, 
near H street north. St. Peter's (Capitol Hill), 2d 
street east. St. Dominick's (Island), F street, near 
7th street. 

Protestant Episcopal. — St. John's, H street north and 
16th street west. Epiphany, G street north, near 13th 
street west. Ascension, II street north, near 10th 
street west. Trinity, C street north and 3d street west. 
Grace (Island), T> street, near 9th street. Christ Church 
(Navy Yard), G street south, near 7th street east. 

Methodist Episcopal Churches. — Wesley chapel, F 
street north and 5th street west. McKendree chapel, 
Massachusetts avenue, near 10th street west. Foundry 
chapel, 14th street west, near G street north. Union 
chapel, 20th street, near Pennsylvania avenue. Fletcher 
chapel, New York avenue and 4th street west. Ryland 
chapel (Island), Maryland avenue and 10th street. 
Gorsuch chapel (Island), 4^- street west, near M. Provi- 



CITY OF WASHINGTON. 209 

dence chapel (Capitol Hill), J street east and Delaware 
avenue. Ebenezer, 4th street east, near G street south. 

Methodist Episcopal (South). — The only church of this 
denomination is in a flourishing condition. At present 
the church edifice is situated on 8th street west, near II 
street north, but a very fine building will soon be erected 
on the corner of E street north and 9th street west, and 
will record the services of a most devoted layman, to 
whom it owes its existence. 

Methodist Protestant. — Chapel on 9th street west, near 
E street north. Mission Church (Navy Yard), 5th street 
east and Virginia avenue. 

Presbyterian. — First Presbyterian, 4^ street west, 
near C street north. Second Presbyterian, I street north 
and New York avenue. Fourth Presbyterian, 9th street 
west, near G street north. Sixth Presbyterian (Island). 
6th street and Maryland avenue. Seventh Presbyterian 
(Island), 7th street, near D street. Western Presby- 
terian, G street north, near 19th street west. Assembly's 
church, I street north and 5th street west. 

Baptist. — First church, 10th street west, near F street- 
north. Second church (Maryland), Virginia avenue and 
7th street east. Third church, E street north, near 6th 
street west. Fourth church, 13th street west, near H 
street north. 

Lutheran. — English, H street north and 11th street 
west. German Evangelical, G street north and 20th 
street west. Augsburg Confession (German), 4th street 
west and E street north. 

Friends. — I street north, near 20th street west. 

Unitarian. — D street north and 6th street west. 



210 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

JJniversalist. — Location of church edifice not yet de- 
cided upon. 

New Jerusalem. — North Capitol street, near B street 
south. 

Synagogue of Israelites. — Location of building not 
yet decided upon. 

Churches of colored congregations. — Asbury, Method- 
ist Episcopal, 11th street west and 3d streeth north. 
Little Ebenezer, Methodist Episcopal, C street south, 
near 5th street east. Israel Bethel, African Methodist 
Episcopal, Capitol street south. Union Bethel, African 
Methodist Episcopal, 15th street west and M street north. 
Zion Wesley, (Island), D street, near 3d. First Colored 
Baptist, 19th street west and I street north. Second Col- 
ored, Missouri avenue, near 7th street. Colored Presby- 
terian, 1 5th street west, near J street north. 

COLLEGES. 

Near the northern boundary of the city, on Fourteenth 
street, is situated one of the most influential and respect- 
able colleges in the country. From Columbia College 
have graduated some of 4;he brightest lights in the law, 
theology, and science ; and we should do great injustice to 
its accomplished faculty if we contented ourselves with a 
description of the inappropriate building in which so much 
intellectual service is performed. The location is one of 
the most beautiful and healthful in the District of Colum- 
bia, and the view from the college, to the southeast, such 
as only the pencil of a master could delineate. The col- 
lege was incorporated in February, 1821, the land having 
been purchased in 1819, the building commenced in 1820, 
and the first President elected in 1821. Connected 



CITY OF WASHINGTON. 211 

with the college are two literary societies, one of which 
possesses a library of two thousand volumes. The col- 
lege library contains five thousand volumes. 

National Medical College. — This medical school is a 
department of Columbia College, and possesses facilities 
for medical instruction equal to those of any similar insti- 
tution in any city of the Union. Being under the same 
roof with the Washington Infirmary, the opportunities for 
thorough clinical illustration are very great. The location 
of the college, at the seat of the national government, 
affords extraordinary advantages to the student who wishes 
to prosecute any of the collateral branches of science ; 
for here the most numerous sources of scientific improve- 
ment are gratuitously open to the student. The libraries 
of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Patent 
Office, enriched with rare and costly works in medicine, as 
well as the best volumes in all the departments of science 
and literature, afford opportunities for the profitable em- 
ployment of hours of leisure from professional study. 
Added to these advantages, lectures are delivered during 
the winter upon various branches of science, and the stu- 
dent can listen to them without charge, and without inter- 
fering with his legitimate studies. Even in a local point 
of view, medical instruction is of some consequence, as 
will be seen by the fact that there are enrolled, in the 
membership of the medical practitioners recognized by 
the Medical Society, 81 physicians in Washington, and 10 
in Georgetown. 

Gonzaga. College, under the direction of the Roman 
Catholic Church, is situated on F street north, near Tenth 
street west, and has earned a good reputation in conse- 



212 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

quence of the faithfulness of its large corps of instruct- 
ors. 

WASHINGTON JOURNALS 

From various causes, but principally because of the tele- 
graphic connection between the seat of government and the 
city of New York, the local support of newspapers pub- 
lished in Washington is generally of less value to them than 
official and congressional patronage. Because of this, 
there is a risk in recording titles, with the exception of 
the National Intelligencer ; — which, having lived so long, 
seems likely to endure forever, — and the Globe, which, 
as the record of the debates in Congress, must always 
continue, under that or some other designation. The 
former was established, as a tri-weekly sheet, by S. H. 
Smith and Joseph Gales, the latter of whom for 
some time discharged the duty of reporter to Congress, in 
the performance of which labor twenty persons are now 
employed by one newspaper. Mr. Gales died in 1860, 
and the entire management of the conservative and con- 
scientious journal devolved upon Mr. W. W. Seaton, 
who, for more than half a*century, has labored regularly 
and incessantly to sustain the unblemished character of 
the Intelligencer. It is a fine specimen of a journal, 
which, dispensing with the anticipation of news, records, 
after investigation and deliberation, the "very age and body 
of the times ; " the history of the United States, during 
the existence of the National Intelligencer, could easily be 
compiled from its columns. The Globe, as intimated 
above, is the official organ for reporting the debates in 
Congress, and is almost entirely devoted to that object. 
There are other newspapers, as the Star, the States, and 



CITY OF WASHINGTON. 213 

the Republican. Foremost amongst those whose literary 
gifts and attainments have contributed to enrich the 
periodical literature of Washington, is John Savage, Esq., 
whose productions, in poetry, prose, and dramatic writing, 
have given him a wide and well-earned fame. 

LIBRARIES AND A R T- C O L L E C T I O N S . 

Washington Library. — The Washington Library As- 
sociation was formed in the year 1811. On the 18th of 
April, 1814, Congress passed an act incorporating the 
society, under the name of "The Washington Library 
Company ;" and, by a joint resolution, passed March 3, 
1823, granted to the company a copy of the Laws of the 
United States, the Journals of Congress, documents, and 
State papers then published, and such as should be pub- 
lished thereafter by Congress. The charter intrusts the 
management of the library to seven directors, elected 
annually, by shareholders, on the first Monday of April. 
The shares are six dollars each, and the use of the library 
is granted to persons not holding shares for three dollars 
per annum. The library received a donation, from Dr. 
J. C. Hall, of the collection of Dr. Laurie, numbering 
about 1,000 volumes. The present extent of the library 
is about 15,000 volumes. 

The company owns a building and Jot of ground on 
Eleventh street, south of Pennsylvania avenue 

The library is kept open every day and evening, 
excepting Sunday. 

Library of Peter Force, Esq. — This private collection 

of books forms the most complete library upon American 

history in the world. The able and devoted collector 

has spent a life in gathering up the records of American 

10* 



214: WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

history, in all their minutiae ; and this invaluable mine of 
treasures contains over 50,000 books, pamphlets, news- 
papers, and manuscripts. The library is situated on the 
corner of Tenth and D streets, and every student in his- 
tory is made welcome to its resources by the politeness 
of its owner. 

Collections of Paintings. — Mr. W. W. Corcoran, a 
munificent patron of art, possesses an invaluable collec- 
tion of paintings and statuary, a view of which may be 
obtained on Tuesday and Friday of every week. Here 
may be seen Powers' " Greek Slave ;" " Milton at the 
Organ," painted by Leutze ; " Attack of the Huguenots," 
by W. D. Washington ; " Autumn Scerie," by Doughty ; 
and some of the finest productions, principally of Ameri- 
can artists, whom Mr. Corcoran has generously patron- 
ized and aided. 

Nothing can afford better evidence of this gentleman's 
love for art, whose gallery we have thus hastily noticed, 
than the fact he has recorded in stone and brick, in the 
form of a magnificent structure on the corner of Penn- 
sylvania avenue and Seventeenth street/ This edifice, — 
which is one of the best specimens of architecture in the 
city, and has been erected and dedicated to art, — as long 
as its grand proportions endure, will testify to the true 
public spirit of the donor. 

Another generous patron of the fine arts, and a con- 
noisseur who deserves the wealth dispensed by him so 
lavishly upon things of beauty, which, when possessed, are 
not churlishly hidden from those who have not the same 
means, is Mr. J. C. Maguire, in whose collection of paint- 
ings, to say nothing of the innumerable articles of vertu 
and literary curiosity, are some very rare gems. Unfor-i 



CITY OF WASHINGTON. 215 

tunately for us, the publishers, who have an inalienable 
right to literary despotism, and, if not the foes of authors, 
are the censors of literary limits, have so hedged us in 
that we can give only a hasty glance at the numerous art 
treasures in the possession of Mr. Maguire, whose hos- 
pitable doors are always open to artists and lovers of art. 
In view of our amenability to the chancery of art, how- 
ever, we dare not omit a reference to a landscape by Paul 
Weber, which we venture to pronounce equal in drawing 
and color to any American picture ever painted. It is 
so full of delicate touches that, after looking at it for a few 
moments, you expect to see the cattle step out of the 
canvas and frame. The rivulet winding down the mount- 
ain was never done by any but a master's hand. And 
right here we must take the liberty to introduce into our 
theme an artistic suggestion. We hear a great deal said, 
amongst artists and connoisseurs of art, about " old mas- 
ters," and it is suggested that an old master is no better 
than a new master. But it ought to be borne in mind 
that what are technically described as " old masters," are 
those whose industry and excellence were so great that 
their works have outlived those of their cotemporaries. 
No doubt there were many artists who executed paintings 
and sculpture at the date of those works we now seek 
so anxiously as the productions of "old masters," but 
we are eager to obtain the works of old masters of excel- 
lence ; we seek for their works not because of their 
date, but for their beauty. Thus, there are many men 
and women who can now paint tolerable horses and 
dogs, but three centuries hence these may be forgotten, 
and Rosa Bonheur and Landseer counted more valuable 
than gold or diamonds. In the collection of Mr. Maguire 



t>l(> WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

there is a rare masterpiece, which, from its attribute, only 
to be discovered after long examination, proves to be a 
head of St. Paul, by an old master. It is probably by 
Rubens, but it may be a Veronese. Nothing can be 
finer than the " Study of Cattle," by Delatrie, the Ma- 
donna de la Pechc, or the " Head of Danae," by Wert- 
muller. Many other pictures in this collection would 
enable us to fill many pages of description, which we 
regret we are compelled to abandon. 

Mr. Janvier's collection is very rich, and was obtained 
by its possessor during several years' residence in Italy. 
Like every lover and friend of art, Mr. Janvier opens his 
hospitable door to painter, poet, or lover of art. Among 
the most valuable paintings in this collection are, the por- 
trait of Pope Paul III., attributed to Titian ; a portrait 
of King William III. when a child, in which the artist, 
Van der Dom, has gratified his love of allegory by repre- 
senting the youthful prince as blowing bladders, while be- 
fore him are the fleeting treasures of money and jewels, 
and the more reliable wealth indicated by an open missal ; 
a portrait of the Duchess de la Valliere, by Mignard, 
in which the lips seem about to part, the eyes to 
move, and the bosom, of which there is a liberal display, 
to heave ; and a work of Andrea Vaccaro, the subject of 
which is described in the " Leg gentle delle VergineP 
There are several other pictures the coloring and drawing 
of which seem to establish their title to the rank of origi- 
nals by old masters. 

Mr. King, a veteran artist, has a large collection, 
principally of portraits, in his studio on Twelfth street. 

The Washington artists, with whom some fine produc- 
tions have originated, frequently exhibit their works in 



CITY OF WASHINGTON. 217 

the gallery belonging to Philp & Solomons, the room 
having been constructed with an especial view to their 
accommodation, and is admirably suited for its purpose. 

FRATERNITIES AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 

There are in Washington the usual quantity of chari- 
table organizations, but we are obliged to content ourselves 
w T ith the simple mention of the Young Men's Christian 
Association, Columbia Typographical Society, Ladies' 
Union Benevolent Society, Washington Orphan Asylum 
(Protestant), St. Joseph's Male Orphan Asylum (R. C), 
and St. Vincent's Female Orphan Asylum. 

Free and Accepted Masons. — This old and wide-spread 
fraternity was early established in the District, Washing- 
ton having served as Master of lodge No. 22, in Alex- 
andria, at one time within the limits of the District. A 
convention of lodges met in the District, on December 
11th, 1810, in which there were representatives of the fol- 
lowing lodges : — Brooke Lodge, No. 42, of Virginia, and 
the following Lodges chartered by the Grand Lodge of 
Maryland : Federal Lodge, No. 15; Columbia Lodge, No. 
35; Washington Naval Lodge, No. 41; and Potomac 
Lodge, No. 37. From these lodges the Grand Lodge of 
the District of Columbia was formed, and new charters 
w^ere issued. Washington Lodge, of Alexandria, was 
allowed to remain under the jurisdiction of Virginia, 
owing to the peculiar fact that its charter was granted to 
George Washington, and the craft were unwilling to can- 
cel the record of the masonic standing of so illustrious a 
brother. The first lodge established in California was 
chartered by this Grand Lodge. At present, there are 
in existence, within the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge 



218 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

of the District, the following branches of the Order: 
Washington Commandery of Knights Templar, Colum- 
bia and Washington Royal Arch Chapters, and eleven 
lodges. 

Ancient and Accepted Rite. — This branch of freema- 
sonry is governed by a Supreme Council of those possess- 
ing the Thirty-Third Degree, which is an exclusive and 
executive degree, difficult of attainment, and conferred 
only upon those who, without an application for it, are 
selected as proper persons to be received into its myste- 
ries. Under this governing body there have been estab- 
lished in the District, a Grand Consistory, Council of 
Kadosch, and Osiris Lodge of Perfection. 

Independent Order of Odd-Fellows. — This Order was 
first introduced into the District of Columbia, November 
26, 1827, by the establishment of Central Lodge, No. 1, 
in the city of Washington ; the Grand Lodge of the Dis- 
trict was instituted November 28, 1828. The Encamp- 
ment, or Patriarchal branch of the Order, was established 
by the institution of Columbian Encampment, No. 
1, in the city of Washington, in January, 1834. The 
Grand Encampment of the District was instituted at 
Alexandria, in April, 1846. Upon the retrocession of 
Alexandria to Virginia, in 1846, the Grand Encampment 
was removed to Washington. There are four subordi- 
nate encampments and thirteen lodges under the Grand 
Lodge, eleven in Washington and two in Georgetown. 

MARKETS. 

Washington is supplied with food by four good 
markets. The one known as the centre market, on Penn- 
sylvania avenue, needs a new building, and the corpora- 



CITY OF WASHINGTON. 219 

tion have long promised to provide what would conduce 
to the comfort and cleanliness of the people, and add 
much to the beauty of the most prominent part of the 
main avenue in the city. 

CEMETERIES. 

The oldest and best known cemetery in the District is 
called the Congressional Cemetery, beeause when a mem- 
ber of Congress or a Senator of the United States 
dies, his memory is perpetuated in this graveyard, by a 
monument erected at the public expense ; and thus a 
cemetery really belonging to a corporation has become 
known as, par excellence, " The Congressional." The cem- 
etery thus designated is situated about a mile and a half 
east of the Capitol. The original name of this residence 
of the dead was the " Washington Parish Burial Ground," 
and amongst its early promoters, we find the names of 
Henry Ingle, George Blagden, Griffith Coombe, Samuel 
N. Smallwood, Frederick May, Peter Miller, J. T. Frost, 
and Thomas Tingey, all identified with the early history 
of the seat of government. 

. Another cemetery, of greater beauty, is called " Glen- 
wood," and is situated about a mile north of the Capitol, 
and in a few years will become one of the best improved 
in the country, its natural advantages only needing time 
and labor to improve them. 

POLICE. 

The guardianship of the city is divided between the 
municipal police and the Auxiliary Guard, who, contrary 
to the usages of other cities, do not separately patrol the 
entire city, but are to be found in bodies at the most 
public .places. 



220 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

TRAVELING FACILITIES. 

Washington is connected with the North and West by 
railroad and canal, and the beautiful Potomac bears the 
traveler to Alexandria or Acquia creek, where another 
railroad connection conveys him southward. Between 
Washington and Alexandria there is an hourly communi- 
cation by omnibus, and a railroad commencing on the Vir- 
ginia side of the Long bridge, which spans the Potomac. 
Besides these principal channels of locomotion, there are 
the usual stage-coach accommodations for reaching the 
surrounding country, while two lines of omnibuses convey 
passengers from Georgetown to the Capitol, or from any 
part of Seventh street to the Navy Yard. A city railroad 
is so greatly needed, that the strife for the pecuniary 
profits to accrue from it cannot much longer prevent its 
construction. 



CHAPTEK IX. 

GEORGETOWN. 



The city of Georgetown is situated on the Potomac, 
three miles west of the Capitol, and only separated from 
the city of Washington by Rock Creek, which is spanned 
by a beautiful iron bridge, constructed on a novel plan. The 
city is located upon high ground, and commands a beautiful 
prospect of the Capital and the valley of the Potomac. It 
was laid out by an act of the colonial government of 
Maryland, passed June 8th, 1751, and was incorporated 
by act of the general assembly of Maryland, passed De- 
cember 25, 1789. It is a port of entry, and carries on a 
considerable foreign and coasting trade ; and is, also, the 
greatest shad and herring market in the United States, 
large quantities of these fish being caught in the Potomac 
and brought here for barreling. The flouring business is 
extensively carried on, and keeps about fifty mills in con- 
stant operation. Manufacturing has also been introduced, 
and has lately become an important branch of industry. 
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is carried over the Po- 
tomac at this place, upon an aqueduct 1,446 feet long and 
36 feet high, costing, in its construction, two million 
dollars. There are eight churches in the city, two banks, 
a college, a nunnery, and several hotels. A line of two 
steamers has lately been established between this port and 



222 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

New York, for carrying freight and passengers. There is 
one newspaper in the place, the Georgetown Advocate, 
published tri-weekly and weekly. The population is 
about eight thousand. A line of stages runs every three 
minutes between this city and the Capitol, making it con- 
venient for persons doing business in Washington, and 
members of Congress, to reside here and enjoy the salu- 
brious air and quiet retirement of the place. 

GEORGETOWN COLLEGE. 

This institution of learning was established in 1791, 
by the Roman Catholics, under the auspices, and at the 
suggestion, of the Rev. John Carroll. The buildings 
were commenced in 1788, and completed in 1795, but the 
terms opened before the buildings were finished, in 1791. 
Professors w^ere selected from the Jesuits who sought 
an asylum in this country from European persecution. 
The system of education adopted is one long tried and 
fully approved, being the ratio dicendi et discendi of Pere 
Jouvency, and keeps pace with the spirit of development 
and genius of our age and country, — embracing all litera- 
ture and modern inventions, and cherishing the princi- 
ples of liberty and republicanism. The morality of the 
college is preserved with the most vigilant solicitude ; 
the nature of the system precluding almost the possibility 
of the pupils contracting any vicious habits. The seclu- 
sion of the site, vigilance of the prefects, and attendance 
of the professors in their walks within the college grounds, 
keep the students under a decorous restraint. 

The local advantages yield to none in any country ; 
elevated and sequestered, though within the limits of the 
town, it lifts its turrets high above the forest that sur- 



GEORGETOWN. 223 

rounds it, commanding a view of the Potomac, on whose 
banks it is situated, of the bridge which spans the waters, 
Analostan Island, the Capitol, and the city of Washington. 
The prospect in the rear is perfectly rural, varied with 
hill and dale, and deeply set with every species of forest 
trees, embowering a serpentine walk which forms a de- 
lightful promenade, reminding the contemplative student 
of the vale of Tempe, while the gurgling stream which 
meanders through its shades recalls in fancy the waters 
of Peneus, 

Ab imo 
Effusus Piiido spumosis volvitur undis. 

The library comprises about twenty-five thousand 
volumes of rare and well-selected works, among which are 
many of very ancient date, as well as manuscripts and 
illuminated missals of the middle ages. There is a fine 
museum attached to the college, and also an astronomical 
observatory. A vineyard is cultivated on the premises, 
which supplies the chapel with wine for the altar, and the 
table of the clergy. The medical department of the in- 
stitution w^as organized in May, 1851, under the act of 
Congress passed in March, 1815, granting the college the 
rights and privileges of a University. The academic year 
is from the 15th of September to the 31st of July. 

THE CONVENT OF THE VISITATION. 

The convent, in Fayette street, is of the order of the 
Visitation, founded, in 1610, by Saint Francis de Sales, 
and first superintended by Saint Jane Frances Fremiot 
de Chantal. The objects of the order are female instruc- 
tion and the practice of charity. This convent was es- 
tablished, under the diocese of Baltimore, in 1799 ; and 



224 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

the sisters conduct a female seminary, called the Academy 
of the Visitation, which is an excellent institution of its 
kind, and accommodates about two hundred pupils, of all 
religious denominations, and the course of instruction is 
very complete, and judiciously chosem 

A public exhibition is given at the close of each aca- 
demic year, when premiums are awarded to the success- 
ful competitors for honors. The annual vacation com- 
mences with the exhibition, on the last Thursday of July. 
The terms for board and tuition are $200 for the annual 
term. Visitors are admitted to the convent and acad- 
emy on week-days, between the hours of eleven and two 
o'clock. 

THE CHESAPEAKE A£TD OHIO CANAL. 

The States of Maryland and Virginia, in the year 
1784, incorporated a company for the improvement of the 
river Potomac, the great object of which was to open to 
the commerce of the seat of government the mineral 
riches of the Alleghany mountains. 

In November, 1823. a convention of delegates from 
Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the District 
of Columbia, met in Washington, for the purpose of call- 
ing the attention of government to this important project. 
On the 28th of May, 1828, Congress passed an act appro- 
priating $1,000,000, but specifying that the canal should 
be sixty feet wide and six feet deep. The City of Wash- 
ington subscribed $1,000,000, and Alexandria and George- 
town $250,000 each ; Virginia, $250,000 ; and Maryland, 
$5,000,000. 

The ground was broken, for the commencement of the 
work, on the 4th of July, 1828, on which occasion John 



GEORGETOWN. 225 

Quincy Adams, then President of the United States, offi- 
ciated in the performance of the ceremony. The canal 
extends to Cumberland, a distance of one hundred and 
eighty-four miles, and is supplied with water from the 
Potomac, by means of dams. 

The entire cost of the work was about $12,000,000. 

OAK-HILL CEMETERY. 

This beautiful place was laid out, and presented to the 
shareholders of the District of Columbia, by W. W. Cor- 
coran, Esq., the beneficent banker. It is situated on the 
heights of Georgetown, upon the western slope of the 
banks of Rock Creek, and is beautifully laid out in ter- 
races and walks, overshadowed by tall oak trees. The 
ground is varied by hill and dale, and commands most 
charming views of the exquisite scenery of the valley of 
the stream, broken into vistas and secluded nooks by the 
undulating and varied nature of the ground. There are, 
already, many grand monuments erected here, and numer- 
ous vaults prepared for the wealthier families of the Dis- 
trict. The vault belonging to the donor, Mr. Corcoran, 
stands upon the brow of the hill, in a very conspicuous 
and beautiful location, and is surmounted by a primitive 
Grecian temple of the Doric order, octagonal in form, and 
built of white marble, at a cost of over $25,000. The 
granite monument to Bodisco, the late Russian Minister, 
is worthy of notice. The shaft was sent from St. Peters- 
burgh, by the Russian government. The entrance is 
graced by a tasteful Gothic lodge, of sandstone. The 
stone chapel, overgrown with ivy, is an attractive and 
beautiful feature of the cemeterv. 



CHAPTEK X. 



PLACES OF INTEREST NEAR THE SEAT OF GOVERN- 
MENT. 



The vicinity of the seat of government is full of inter- 
est, but our limits will only permit us to mention those 
points of attraction which, from historic, as well as com- 
mon reputation, cannot be passed over in silence. 

BLADEN SBUR GH. 

This village is situated on the eastern branch of the 
Potomac, in Prince George's County, Maryland, on the 
line of the Baltimore and Washington railroad, six miles 
northeast of the Capitol, and contains about five hundred 
inhabitants. It has many interesting associations with 
the seat of government, on account of the battle which 
was fought here, in defence of the city of Washington 
against the British, in 1814; and also from the painful 
reminiscences of the numerous duels fought in its vicinity 
since the location of the government in the District. The 
old battle-ground is still pointed out to strangers, above 
the bridge which crosses the branch, and it is often the 
case of pique to the inhabitants of the village when some 
bantering wag inquires the way to the "race course." 
Soon after the sack of Washington, the following verses 



PLACES OF INTEREST. 227 

were written upon the four-mile stone, near the site of the 

defeat : — 

Here fought Commodore Barney, 

So nobly and so gallantly, 
Against Britain's sons and slavery ; 
For a fighting man was he ! 

There did General Winder flee, 

His infantry and cavalry ; 
Disgracing the cause of liberty ; 

For a writing man was he ! 

The Duelling-Ground. — This scene of so many deadly 
encounters is situated upon the road from Washington to 
Bladensburgh, about four miles from the city, in an open- 
ing of the trees, which shelter the lawn from observa- 
tion. This sequestered spot was at first chosen for its 
natural seclusion, and has since been used as a duelling- 
ground, from custom, and the necessity of evading the act 
of Congress, passed July 20, 1839, which makes duelling, 
in the District of Columbia, a penal offence, punishable by 
ten years' hard labor in the penitentiary. 

The first duel of which this ground was the theatre, ap- 
pears to be that in which Edward Hopkins was killed, 
in 1814. 

In 1819, A. T. Mason, a United States Senator from 
Virginia, fought, upon this celebrated ground, with his 
sister's husband, John McCarty. McCarty was averse 
to fighting, and thought there was no necessity for it ; but 
Mason would fight. McCarty named muskets, loaded 
with grape-shot, and so near together that they would hit 
heads if they fell on their faces. This was changed by the 
seconds to loading with bullets, and taking twelve feet as 
the distance. Mason was killed instantly, and McCarty 



228 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

had his collar-bone broken. In 1820, Commodore Deca- 
tur was here killed in a duel, by Commodore Barron. 
At the first fire both fell forward, with their heads within ten 
feet of each other, and, as each supposed himself mortally 
wounded, each fully and freely forgave the other. Deca- 
tur expired immediately, but Barron eventually recov- 
ered. In 1822, Midshipman Locke was killed here, by a 
clerk of the Treasury Department, named Gibson ; the 
latter was not hurt. In 1833, Mr. Key and Mr. Sherborn 
had a hostile encounter, and, after an exchange of shots, 
Mr. Sherborn said : — " Mr. Key, I have no desire to kill 
you." "No matter," said Key, "I came to kill you." 
"Very well, then," said Sherborn, "I will kill you." And 
he did. In 1838, W. J. .Graves, of Kentucky, assuming 
the quarrel of James Watson Webb with Jonathan Cilley, 
of Maine, selected this place for the duel, and Cilley was 
killed. In 1845, a lawyer named Jones fought with and 
killed Dr. Johnson. In 1851, R. A. Hoole and A. J. 
Dallas had a hostile meeting. Dallas was shot in the 
shoulder, but recovered. 

LITTLE FALLS. 

Three miles westward from Georgetown, the Potomac 
forms a succession of cascades, designated the Little 
Falls. The noble river is at this point beautiful enough to 
provide immortal fame for the artist who shall properly 
delineate it. Overlooking its turbulence, the traveler 
crosses a bridge, the structure of which assures him in- 
stinctively of his safety, and he arrives on the Virginia 
shore. Following the highway for fifteen miles, over 
picturesque hills and through fine forests, he finds a cross- 
road, leading to the 



PLACES OF INTEREST. 229 

GREAT FALLS. 

This romantic water-fall, without any pretension to 
the majesty of Niagara, is a sublime specimen of the 
wildest mood of nature. Through fierce and jagged bar- 
riers of rock, the river forces its imperial march, with 
such vehemence as seems to involve an immediate agent 
stronger than the force of gravity ; foaming and boiling, 
the crests of the hurried billows appear to be white 
masses, hurled by Titanic hands. The whole scene is of 
that kind called savage, but may be more properly styled 
regal, nature — or the laws of nature, known and unknown, 
asserting the supremacy of the original force over all bar- 
riers. No theme could be so grand for a poet, no 
scene more suggestive for a painter; and Mr. W. D. 
Washington has proved himself a true son of the soil 
upon which he was born, and a master of the art to which 
he has devoted himself, by the fine picture he has painted 
of this contrast of sky, rocks, and water „ This point of 
the river furnishes the water used by the people of Wash- 
ington, which is conveyed to them by means of the national 
aqueduct, of which we have previously spoken* 

ALEXANDRIA. 

The City of Alexandria is distant seven miles from 
Washington, with which city there is a constant com- 
munication by steamboat, omnibus, and railroad. The 
width of the river, and the deptb of its waters, form here 
a fine harbor for the commerce of this portion of the 
country ; which, although it has not arrived at the great- 
ness anticipated in former years, is still considerable, 
and is principally employed in the transportation of coal, 
tobacco, and corn, Railroad and steamboat facilities are 
11 



230 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

afforded for the traveler desiring to proceed in any direc- 
tion. The site of the eity is beautifully undulating. 
Originally the settlement on this point of the river was 
denominated " Hunting Creek Warehouse/' but some 
more classical ear insisted upon dubbing it Belle Haven. 
At one time it had a fair prospect of becoming the seat of 
government ; and so strong was the influence brought to 
bear in its favor, that it was included in the federal terri- 
tory, and afterwards returned, by act of Congress, in 
1846, to Virginia. In the latter part of his life, George 
Washington was a pew-holder in Christ Church, and 
many reminiscences of that great man are preserved in 
the records of this ancient church, and also in the archives 
of Washington Lodge, No. 22, of Free and Accepted Ma- 
sons. Alexandria is connected with Georgetown and the 
West by a canal, and a considerable manufacturing 
business is carried on. The handsome court-house of 
Alexandria county is located here ; some fourteen 
churches, and numerous schools, form the other public 
buildings. , 

FORT WASHINGTON. 

This military edifice, originally known as Fort War- 
burton, is about six miles below Alexandria, and generally 
visited by persons proceeding from the seat of government 
to Mount Vernon. It is described by General Wilkinson 
as being, in 1812, a mere water-battery. Since that time it 
has not improved in its stratagetic importance. It was in- 
tended for offensive action only against the river side, 
and, being under an acclivity, is, of course, of no service 
in the other direction. During the last war with Great 
Britain, the town of Alexandria furnished fifteen hundred 
dollars towards making the fort defensible ; but this did 



PLACES OF INTEREST. 231 

not save that town from a forced contribution, nor pre- 
serve the Capital of the nation from plunder. 

MOUNT VERNON. 

This spot, so surrounded by patriotic associations, de- 
scended to George Washington from his half-brother, 
Lawrence Washington, whose title descended from the 
patent of Lord Culpepper to John Washington, dated 
1670. The father of these Washingtons first married 
Jane Butler, who bore him the son named Lawrence, and 
subsequently united himself in a second marriage with 
Mary Ball, who was the mother of George Washington. 
The Mount Vernon estate was bequeathed by Augustine 
Washington, who died in 1743, to Lawrence Washington. 
The last-named person received a captain's commission 
in one of the four regiments raised in the American colo- 
nies to aid Great Britain in her memorable struggle 
against the combined forces of' France and Spain. His 
duties subsequently brought him in contact with Admiral 
Vernon, for whom he conceived and always cherished a 
strong affection ; and after his marriage, in 1743, having 
settled upon what was then known as the Hunting Creek 
estate, he called it Mount Vernon. 

This beautiful estate has been suffered to fall into a sad 
state of dilapidation, but having at length passed into the 
hands of the women of America, it will doubtless be made 
worthy of the sacred ashes which repose in its shades. 

The central portion of the mansion was erected by 
Lawrence Washington, and the wings were added by 
George Washington. In the main hall is preserved the 
key of the Bastile, presented by Lafayette to Washington, 
as a fitting symbol of the triumph of modern political 



232 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

ideas, embodied in the person of Washington, over the 
barbarous notions of tyranny, so well represented by 
the most grim and terrible prison of recent ages. 

The Tomb of Washington. — While many cities of the 
old world contended for the honor of Homer's birth-place, 
the strife of modern cities has been for the entombment 
of Washington's ashes ; and it is not impossible that this 
far-seeing statesman was governed by other reasons than 
those dictated by his acknowledged modesty, when, in his 
last will and testament, dated July, 1799, he directed that 
his remains should be interred upon the family estate of 
Mount Vernon, and not removed therefrom. In the suc- 
ceeding December, his body was borne to the old vault, 
with the observance of the following order of procession : — 

Cavalry, Infantry, and Guard; 

Music ; 

Clergy ; 

Horse with the General's saddle and holsters ; 

Coloriel Blackburn ; 



Col. Sims, 
Col. Ramsay, 
Col. Payne, 



Body. 



Col. Gilpin, 
Col. Marsteller, 
Col. Little. 



•Principal Mourners ; 

Lodge No. 22 of Freemasons ; 

Corporation of Alexandria; 

Citizens. 

The old family vault, in which the remains were placed, 
was south of the mansion, and was constructed of free- 
stone, covered with turf. With a wise anticipation of the 
future importance of his record to the general history of 
the world, Washington, in his will, expressed his desire 
• for a new mausoleum in the following terms : — 

" The family vault at Mount Vernon requiring repairs, 



PLACES OF INTEREST. 233 

and being improperly situated besides, I desire that a new- 
one of brick, and upon a larger scale, may be built at the 
foot of what is called the Vineyard Inclosure, on the 
ground w r hich is marked out, in which my remains, and 
those of my deceased relatives now in the old vault, 
and such others of my family as may choose to be en- 
tombed there, may be deposited." But for the atrocious 
attempt to steal, for transportation to a foreign country, 
the hallowed relics of the great Chief of America, it 
is possible that his wishes about the entombment of 
his family would have been neglected. A new tomb 
having been erected, the sacred remains, deposited in 
a marble sarcophagus constructed and presented by 
Mr. Struthers, of Philadelphia, were removed to their 
present resting-place on the seventh day of October, 1837. 
Above the arch of the vault, in which, within full view, 
are the sarcophagi containing the relics of George Wash- 
ington and his wife, Martha Washington, is incribed this 
sentence : — 

within this enclosure rest the remains of 
General George Washington.* 



* On his recent tour through this country, the Prince of Wales, 
in company with the President and his Cabinet, visited this sacred 
tomb. After expressing his appreciation of the glorious character 
of "Washington, he desired to plant a tree on the spot, in commemo- 
ration of his visit ; and some horse-chestnuts having been handed to 
him, he placed them in the earth. He afterwards put a few more in 
his pocket, with the* intention, as he said, of planting them in 
Windsor Park, on his return home, as another memento of a visit 
he should ever regard with feelings of peculiar interest. No more 
touching tribute was ever paid to the memory of the Father of his 
Country. The grandson of a king who held Washington as a rebel 
and a traitor, came to his tomb to do reverence to his virtues ; and 
in this modest but most expressive manner, sought to atone for the 
errors of his ancestors. 

11* 



234 WASHINGTON DESCRIBED. 

The mansion contains many valuable historical relics ; 
amongst which may be mentioned, the key of the Bastile, 
presented by Lafayette ; portions of the military and 
personal furniture of Washington; the pitcher portrait, 
on the back of which some one has recorded a highly 
complimentary inscription. 

Thanks to the efforts of the Ladies' Mount Vernon So- 
ciety, aided by the patriotic eloquence of Edward Everett, 
this sanctified estate has been secured for the people of 
the United States. Here, then, amidst the most sacred 
historical associations, we bid farewell to the reader. 
Long may the groves of Mount Vernon, and the costly 
magnificence of the Seat of Government, enable those 
who speak a common language, belong to a common 
origin, and are inevitably linked in a common destiny, to 
dwell together in unity ! 



INDEX. 



Agricultural Society, .... 
Agriculture, Bureau of, . 
Albany, distance of, from Washington, 
Alexandria, description of, 
Alexandria, retrocession of, 

Aims-House, 

Ambassadors, Foreign, 
Armory, . . . . 

Arsenal, 

Art Association, . . . - . 
Art-Collections and Libraries, 
Astronomical position of the Capitol, 
Attorney-General, .... 
Auditors of the Treasury, 

Aqueduct, 

Baltimore, distance of, from Washington, 
Bladensburgh, description of, 
Boston, distance of, from Washington, 

Botany, 

Capitol, astronomical position of, 

corner-stone laid, 

extension, . 

ground plan, . 

dome, 

architectural sculpture, , 

rotunda, 

Senate chamber, 

Representatives' Hall, 



189 
112 

13 
229 

13 
206 

87 
181 
182 
191 
213 

13 
152 

90 
193 

13 
226 

13 

34 

13 
129 
125 
128 
129 
131 
133 
136 
139 



236 



INDEX. 



Capitol, Supreme Court room, . . . . , . 140 

old Hall of Representatives, 144 

grounds, ' . . . 14? 

guard, 147 

Cemeteries,. 219 

Oak-Hill, 225 

Census Bureau, Ill 

Charleston, distance of, from Washington, . . . .13 

Charlevoix's account of a human sacrifice, . . . . 97 
Chesapeake Bay, Capt. John Smith's acccount of, . . .14 

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 224 

Chicago, distance of, from Washington, 13 

Churches, 208 

Cincinnati, distance of, from Washington, . . . .13 

City Hall, 205 

Climatology, 39 

Coast Survey, 92, 156 

Code of Official Etiquette, . 199 

Colonization Society, American, 188 

Columbia College, 210 

Conchology, 33 

Congress, 148 

committees, 150 

Controllers of the Treasury, 90 

Convent of the Visitation, .223 

County Jail, 206 

Court of Claims, 146 

Do. do 152 

Deaf, Dumb, and Blind, Columbian Institution for, . . 186 

Detroit, distance of, from Washington, 13 

Downing, Andrew Jackson, Monument to, . . . . 177 

Duelling-Ground, 227 

Entomology, 32 

Etiquette, 196 

articles of Washington and Jefferson, . . 197 

the Code, 199 

Executive Departments of the Government, ... 70 

Executive Mansion, 71 



INDEX. 237 

Fish of the Potomac, 21 

Fort Washington, ......... 230 

Fraternities and Benevolent Societies, . . . . 21 Y 

Geography, , . . . .13 

Georgetown College, 222 

Georgetown, description of, 221 

Geology, 15 

Gonzaga College, 211 

Governmental and National Establishments, . . . 154 

Great Falls of the Potomac, 229 

Health of District, 40 

Herpetology, . 27 

History of Seat of Government, 43 

Hotels, 207 

Hydrography, 20 

Icthyology, 30 

Indian Office, 105 

Insane, Government Hospital for, 187 

Interior Department, 103 

Jackson, Equestrian Statue of, 191 

Jefferson, Statue of, 73 

Journals, 212 

Judicial Department , . . . . . . . 151 

Land Office, 105 

Legislative Department, 121 

Library, Congressional, . 141 

State Department, 103 

Law, 144 

Document, . 146 

Washington, 213 

of Peter Force, Esq., 213 

Little Falls of the Potomac, 228 

Mammalia, 22 

Markets, 218 

Medical College, 211 

Military Asylum, 183 

Milwaukie, distance of, from Washington, . . . . 13 

Mobile, distance of, from Washington, 13 



238 



INDEX. 



Monument to Andrew Jackson Downing, . 

Mount Vernon, 

National Printing Office, . 

Natural History, 

Navy Department, 

Navy Yard, 

New Orleans, distance of, from Washington, 
New York, distance of, from Washington, 
Observatory, astronomical position of, 

description of, . 
Ornithology, ..... 
Paintings, Mr. Corcoran' s Collection of, . 

Mr. Maguire's " 

Mr. Janvier's " 

Mr. King's 

Philp & Solomons' Gallery, 
Patent Office, . . . * . 

library, .... 

Penitentiary of the District of Columbia 

Pension Office, 

Philadelphia, distance of, from Washington 

Police, 

Population, progress of, . 
Post Office Department, 

building, 
President, residence of, 

history of residence, 

election of, ... 

tenure of office, 

duties of, . 

constitutional requisites, 

receptions of, 

inauguration of, 

oath of, ... 
Presidents, list of, ... 

Public Records, preservation of, . 
Representatives, House of, 
Richmond, distance of, from Washington, 



IXDEX. 



239 



Sarcophagus in grounds of Smithsonian Institution, . 


178 


correspondence in relation to, 


. 179 


Seat of Government, history of, ... 


43 


act of Congress establishing, . 


. 46 


law of Maryland confirming, 


48 


boundaries defined by Washington 


. 49 


Senate, • . 


149 


Smith, Captain John, describes Chesapeake Bay, . 


. 14 


Smithsonian Institution, 


165 


State, Department of, 


. 82 


St. Louis, distance of, from Washington, 


13 


Sturgeon in Chesapeake Bay, .... 


. 15 


Supreme Court, 


151 


Traveling facilities, 


. 220 


Treasury Department, establishment of, . 


88 


Tomb of Washington, . . . • . 


. 232 


visit of the Prince of Wales to, . 


233 


United States Agricultural Society, 


. 189 


United States Arsenal, 


182 


War, Department of, . 


. 94 


Washington Aqueduct, 


193 


Armory, ...... 


. 181 


Art Association, 


191 


Infirmary, 


. 206 


Washington City, 


203 


history of, 


. 51 


original plan of, 


53 


appearance of, in 1800, . 


.56 


incorporation, 


60 


capture of, .... 


61 


government of, .... . 


204 


morals of, 


. 204 


Washington, Equestrian Statue of, 


192 


Washington Monument, 


. 159 


Zoology, . . 


22 









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Dr. Gosling, Shelby ville, Tenn. " The j 
principle of the multipedal Truss is! 
correct, and will accomplish all that 
Trusses possibly can do." 

Dr. Bontecow, of Troy. " I wish to 
introduce them in this city, being con- 
vinced they are superior to all ol/iers." 

Dr. Crafts, Binghampton. "I can 
truly say the cases I have treated by 
your Truss promise a cure, and all who 
are wearing it are highly pleased." 

This Truss challenges comparison with any other in the world ! Specimens 
now on hand which have been in constant use from six months to two years. 
Young subjects invariably cured. 

Office, No. 2 BARCLAY ST., N. Y. 




Important National Works, 

Published by 

D. APPLETON & CO. 

443 & 445 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 



THE NEW AMERICAN CYCLOPAEDIA: 

A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge. 

EDITED BY 

GEORGE RIPLEY & CHARLES A. DANA, 

Aided by a numerous select corps of writers in all branches of Science, 
Art, and Literature. - 

This work is being published in about 15 large octavo volumes, each contain- 
ing T50 two-column pages. Vols. I. to XI. are now ready, each containing near 
2,500 original articles. An additional volume will be published once in about 
three months. 

Price, in Cloth, $3; Sheep, $3.50 ; Half Morocco, $4 ; Half Russia, $4.50 each. 

The New American Cyclopaedia is popular without being superficial, learned 
but not pedantic, comprehensive but sufficiently detailed, free from personal 
pique and party prejudice, fresh and yet accurate. It is a complete statement 
of all that is known upon every important topic within the scope of human 
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pages by men who are authorities upon the topics of which they speak. They 
are required to bring the subject up to the present moment ; to state just how i{ 
stands noio. All the statistical information is from the latest reports ; the geo- 
graphical accounts keep pace with the latest explorations ; historical matters 
include the freshest just views ; the biographical notices not only speak of the 
dead, but also of the living. It is a library of itself. 



NOW COMPLETE. 

ABRIDGMENT OF THE DEBATES OF CONGRESS : 

Being a Political History of the United States, from the organization of 
the first Federal Congress' in 1789 to 1850. 

Edited and compiled by HON. THOMAS H. BENTON, from the Official 
Records of Congress. 

The work is now complete in 16 royal octavo volumes of 750 pages each. 
Cloth, $3 ; Law Sheep, $3.50 ; Half Morocco, $4 ; Half Calf, $4.50 each. 







JOHN F. ELLIS, 

306 Pennsylvania Avenue, bet, 9th and 10th Streets, 

Extensive Dealer in 

MELODEONS, 

$vtitm% ttflltttJS, §Mtjtf55, 

TAMBOUKINES, A0C0EDI0NS, 

MUSIC, MUSIC -BOOKS, 

And every article pertaining to a first-class Music Store. 



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Pianos and . other instruments for rent, by day, week, 
month, or year, at low rates. 

Pianos bought, sold, removed, packed, tuned, repaired, ex- 
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Old instruments received in part payment for new. 

Music and books sent to any part of the country by mail, jiost- 
age free. 

Catalogues of Music, and description of Pianos, (fee, sent free, 
upon application. 



Remember the name and number, 

JOHN F. ELLIS, 

306 Pennsylvania Avenue, 
Between 9th and 10th Sts. 



MoCLEES' 



No. 308 Pennsylvania Av., Washington, 

AND 

No. 910 Chesnut St., Philadelphia. 

» ^ » — ■ — — 

PHOTOGRAPHS, FROM CABINET TO LIFE 
SIZE, PLAIN, COLORED, OR CRAYON. 

PHOTOGRAPHS FINELY EXECUTED IN WA- 
TER COLOR. 

PHOTOGRAPHS FINELY FINISHED IN INDIA 
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IVORYTYPES IN THE HIGHEST STYLE OF 
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•-•-« 



Or Album Photographs, beautifully executed. 



Photographs of Senators, Representatives, and all noted Public 
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can be obtained, on application. 



N. B. — Copies of all kinds of Pictures made in the be3t manner. 



BROWN'S 





WASHINGTON CITY. 



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This Hotel is situated on Pennsylvania Avenue, midway between 
the Capitol, President's Mansion, and Public Departments. The 
Proprietor having recently erected this magnificent structure ex- 
pressly for a First-Class Hotel, it is supplied with every convenience 
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For the accommodation of families, particular attention has been 
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extensive patronage with which he has been honored. 



THE NATIONAL 

eiwtratic 4§ttaridg ^lebiefo, 

A Periodical of Political, Literary and Scientific Knowledge, 
WASHINGTON CITY, D. C. 

Contents of No. V., Vol. III., February, 1861 : 

I, Jolly-Days and Holly-Days of Civilization. 
II. The Artist as a Prophet. 

III. American Song, Illustrated by Morris. 

IV. The Smithsonian Institution. 
V. The Economy of Common Life. 

VI. Thomas De Q/uincey. 
VII. Our Foreign Commercial Relations. 
VIII. Persigny on the Press. 
IX. The Crisis, viewed from a Conservative Stand- 
point. 
X. Critical Notes. 



From Morris & Willi? Home Journal. 
Its staff of writers includes some of the first minds in the country, among 
others, John Savage, Senator Nicholson, Commander Maury, Henry Watterson, 
J. B. Thorpe, Judge Loring, Caleb Cushing, Professors Henry and Bache, and 
others eminent in politics and literature, whose combined talent produce an 
able and interesting " Review." 

SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, 

Three Dollars per Annum, in advance. 

CLUBS, CANVASSERS, POSTMASTERS, AND AGENTS 

Will be supplied with the " Review " at the following rates : 

For 10 copies per annum, $27 50 

For 20 " " 50 00 

For 50 " " 112 50 

For 100 " ' " 200 00 

THE CASH TO ACCOMPANY THE ORDER IN ALL CASES. 
ptjf Address all letters to Hon. T. B. Florence, Washington, 
D. C. 

LITTLE, MORRIS & CO., 

N PUBLISHERS. 



CHICKERING & SONS, 

MANUFACTURERS OF 

GRAND, SQUARE, AND UPRIGHT 

PIANO -FORTES, 

694 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 



^— •••-♦-•< 



Since the period in which Jonas Checkering established this house 
(1823), 23,500 Pianos have been constructed and finished under 
his supervision and that of his sons, for the superiority of which 

Forty Prize Medals have been awarded them 

AT EXHIBITIONS IN THE UNITED STATES; 

BEING THE 

Highest Premiums over all Competition. 

They also received the 

f£Il£ lIBAIi 

AT THE WORLD'S FAIR IN LONDON, IN 1851. 

The names of Thalberg, Benedict, and D. Black, need only to be 
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to the new scales plain and overstrung 

GRAND. AND SQUARE PIANO-FORTES, 

which, for quality, strength, and purity of tone, delicacy of action, 
and general style of finish, are unsurpassed by any Pianos now 
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It may be satisfactory to our patrons and friends among the 
public at large, to state, that testimonials have been received from 
all the leading artists who have visited, or are now residing in, the 
United States, a few of whose names we append : 

GOTTSCHALK, J. BURKE, M. StRAKOSCH, 

Leopold de Meyer, S. Thalberg, Jullien, 

Alfred Jaeil, Gustav Satter, Arthur Napoleon, 

AVm. Scharfenberg, J. N". Pychowski, R. Goldbeck, 
R. Hoffman, J. Benedict, E. Muzio, 

Mme. Louise Abel, and many others. 



E. REMINGTON & SONS, 




Manufacturers of 



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when desired. Engraving done in best style, on reasonable terms. Sold by all 
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E. REMINGTON & SONS, 

Ilion, Herkimer Co., N. Y. 



JOHN W. ORB, 

ENGRAVER ON "WOOD, 

ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE, FINE BOOK AND 

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PLAIN OR IN COLORS; 

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INVENTOR AND MANUFACTURER OF 

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The Subscriber, having the largest and most complete establishment 
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DRAWING AND ENGRAVING 

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Superior Draughtsmen permanently engaged in the Establishment 
who are always ready to go to any part of the United States or Canada 
to make Drawings of Machinery, Buildings, etc. At this Establish- 
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Orders by Mail, Express, or Telegraph promptly attended to. 

J. W. ORR, 75 Nassau St., N. Y. 



Important to Travelers. 



-+•+- 



The undersigned, from bis own experience and that of thousands of others, 
being fully convinced <>f t lie importance of a good Berf< 

GUIDE-BOOKS TO THE OLD WOELD, 

proposes to supply the pressing demand by the publication of such as are im- 
peratively needed. Under the general title of 

NOETON'S HAND-BOOKS, 

he will issue the following Guides, prepared from the latest and most reliable 
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every information necessary for the promotion of economy and comfort in trav- 
eling, and for facilitating the seeing of all objects of interest. It is hoped that, 
the public will appreciate the exertions of the subscriber. 

CHAS. B. NORTON, Agent for Libraries. 



NOW READY: 

NORTON'S HAND BOOK TO EUROPE ; or, How to Travel in 
the Old World. — Comprising Hints for Preparations for the Voyage and 
the Landing, Money, Expenses of Travel and Living, Passports, Custom- 
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Guides and Valets, Admission Fees, etc. Illustrated with Railroad Map. 
12mo., 250 pp., Flexible Cloth, Price $1. 

NEARLY RE AD Y.- 
NORTON'S HAND-BOOK TO PARIS —Comprising, in a neat and 
compact form, full instructions as to all the Amusements and Objects of 
Interest in that City. Illustrated with Fine Map. 12mo., 100 pp., 50 CVnts. 

NORTON'S HAND-BOOK TO LONDON, with full and minute direc 
tions for the best manner of spending the time in that City economically 
and profitably. With Capital Map. V2mo., 100 pp., 50 Cents. 

IV PRESS: 
HAND-BOOK TO ENGLAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND, WALES. 
AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT, with Historical and Topographical 

Notes. 

HAND-BOOK TO THE RHINE AND SWITZERLAND. 

HAND-BOOK TO SOUTHERN GERMANY AND ITALY. 

HAND BOOK TO HOLLAND, BELGIUM, AND NORTHERN 
GERMANY. 

HAND-BOOK TO GREECE, TURKEY, AND THE ISLANDS 
OF THE MEDITERRANEAN, Comprehending ALGERIA 
MOROCCO, EGYPT, and the South of France. 

HAND-BOOK TO NORWAY, SWEDEN, DENMARK, AND 
RUSSIA. 

HAND-BOOK TO SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 

I3P 30 Sent by mail on receipt of the sum. 

Address CHARLES B. NORTON, 

Agent for Libraries, New York. 



JUN 24 1903 

VALUABLE AND INTERESTING WORKS 

In several departments of literature, published by 

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LONDON, 

A XI) 56 WALKER STREET, NEW YORK. 



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A NEW UNIVERSAL ETYMOLOGICAL, TECHNOLOGICAL, 
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> » 



C ^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




003 856 943 



